obscurechars5

Welcome to Round V of Obscure DCU Characters. The purpose of this thread
is to serve as a Q&A forum focusing on DC's many obscure heroes and
villains. Rounds I through IV have been archived at
www.infiniteearths.org/dcu/msgboards
and are available for download. If you're new to this topic, take a few moments
to check out those previous threads. The Obscure DCU Characters list now stands
at 365 characters, with a mere 100 of those left to be covered. Those remaining
entries are marked with an asterisk. Grab a few and join the fun!

Cmdr. Glenn Merritt was originally based on an action figure named
Major Matt Mason. Mattel Toys had produced the "Major Matt Mason" line of
toys from 1967-1970. Mason was an astronaut stationed on the Moon, and his
accessories included the Jet Pack, Space Sled, Space Crawler, and Space
Station. In 1968, a second astronaut, Sgt. Storm, was added under the
Major's command. This was followed in 1969 by two final astronauts, Jeff
Long and Doug Davis. The line also included a trio of aliens: Captain
Lazer (1968), Callisto (1969), and Scorpio (1970). Callisto was a little
green man from Jupiter, wielding advanced mental powers. Captain Lazer was
from the planet Mars, and his height was nearly twice that of a normal
Earthman's. Scorpio was an insect-like humanoid hatched on a planet in
another galaxy, located in the star cluster Scorpio. He had a
computer-like brain, and possessed the ability to read minds. Soon after
birth, Scorpio felt a mental summons which he followed all the way to the
Earth's moon. The source of the summons was Major Matt Mason, whom Scorpio
quickly befriended. After the first Moon landing in July 1969, interest in
Mattel's Man of Space waned, and the line was discontinued in the
following year.

Mattel had apparently commissioned a Major Matt Mason comic book from
DC Comics in 1970. Given that assumption, when the toy line was canceled
in that same year, Mattel's need for the comic would have disappeared.
With a little reworking, DC likely produced the following tale, starring
Cmdr. Glenn Merritt, Sgt. Kevin Tempest, and Captain Quasar.

From Beyond The Unknown #7 (Oct-Nov 1970) - #8 (Dec 70-Jan 71)
"Earth Shall Not Die!" parts one and two
by Denny O'Neil and Murphy Anderson

The year is 1999. Mankind is taking its first tentative steps to the
stars. Cape Kennedy contacts the crew of Jupiter-Probe, the first manned
craft to the solar system's largest planet. After the crew signs off, the
Jupiter-Probe loses its outer-ship electronics systems. Suddenly,
something hits the probe. Sensors indicate that the hull has been ripped
open. The crewmen don their oxygen masks, but the effort is a futile one.
They are boarded and attacked by alien invaders. Every one of the dozen or
so astronauts are killed.

Later, back on Earth, astro-physicist Dr. Glenn Merritt appears on
Capital Hill before a top-level Washington conference. Dr. Merritt cannot
believe that some of the committee members, especially Senator Archibald
Beauregard, are suggesting that the Jupiter-Probe disaster might have been
an accident. Merritt points out that the ship's hull was ripped wide open
and the entire crew shot with laser-beams. The prior week, a space-station
was mysteriously destroyed. The previous month, one of the Lunar bases
exploded. Merritt believes that someone, or something, is out there
waiting. He produces further evidence supporting his theory. His
observatory recently began receiving radio signals that were clearly from
intelligent beings. They don't know what the words mean, but it is obvious
that it was not an Earth language. The committee is not entirely convinced
but, over the objections of Senator Beauregard, it is suggested that Dr.
Merritt receive sufficient funds to establish a monitoring post on the
Moon. Merritt is forced to agree to a half-year time limit. He requests
enough equipment to furnish a small bubble base, a crew of six trained
astronauts, and, since he'll be using military facilities, an official
rank. The committee grants Merritt one astronaut, and will arrange for him
to be commissioned as a Space-Fleet Commander. Senator Woodrow tells
Merritt that he wishes he could do more; at the very least, he will
contact Space-Fleet Headquarters personally to ask for a good man to be
assigned to the mission.

Shortly, at Space-Fleet Headquarters, General Watkins receives word and
assigns Sergeant Kevin Tempest, an enlisted astronaut, to aid Merritt.
Tempest is highly qualified and intelligent, and has an extraordinary
aptitude for machinery. Unfortunately, he is also known as a brawling
troublemaker. Tempest is a problem that General Watkins is glad to get rid
of. He begrudgingly packs and heads to Cape Kennedy, the center of
America's space-effort.

Soon, the mission is ready. As Cmdr. Merritt and Sgt. Tempest prepare
to board their craft, Senator Beauregard arrives and warns Merritt that if
he slips up even once, he'll see Merritt broken. The ship takes off
without a hitch. Once free of Earth's gravity, Cmdr. Merritt orders Sgt.
Tempest to switch from liquid fuel to atomics. The insubordinate Tempest
tells Merritt to do it himself. He then begins to chide Merritt on his
volume of The Collected Works of Shakespeare. Merritt knows that he must
show Tempest who's boss, and begins berating him. As the Commander
expected, a fight ensues. Tempest is unaware that Merritt was on the
University Boxing Team, and obtained a black belt on the Karate Team.
That, added to Merritt's understanding of zero-gravity, enables him to
easily beat his belligerent co-pilot. As he had hoped, Merritt earns
Tempest's respect, and the two make their peace.

Suddenly, the ship's alarm sounds. Cmdr. Merritt detects three incoming
alien spacecraft. The aliens show their hostility by firing a laser-beam
at the ship, barely missing them. Tempest fires the weapon's systems,
destroying one of the attackers. The two remaining ships engage them. They
are fired on once again, only this time they take a hit in the gun-turret,
melting the weapon and stunning Tempest. Defenseless, Merritt waits for
the final blow, but at the last moment another alien ship arrives and
fires on the attackers. One attacker is destroyed immediately, leaving the
two remaining alien craft to battle it out. The ships trade weapon's fire
until both become disabled. The rescuer's ship begins to fall to the Lunar
surface. Merritt is relieved when he discovers that Tempest is still alive
and well, and the two astronauts prepare to land.

Once on the surface, they break out their jet-propelled vacuum-sleds in
order to hunt for the fallen alien. They head for a trail of smoke vapor
rising from a crater. When they locate their objective, the astronauts are
amazed to see a ten foot tall alien standing outside his spaceship, not
wearing any kind of protective spacesuit. As they approach, the alien that
had just saved their lives inexplicably begins to fire upon them.
Tempest's sled takes a hit, but Merritt is able to get the drop on the
menace, knocking the creature out. The astronauts lash the alien to their
sleds and bring him back to their ship, binding him before he awakens.

When the alien finally regains consciousness, the two Earthmen are
shocked to discover that he speaks perfect English. Their captive explains
that his race has monitored Earth's broadcasts for many years, and that
English is a rather simple language. When Merritt asks the alien his name,
the creature responds that it is difficult to translate, but sounds
something like "K-Way-Zzr". Merritt recognizes the word as being similar
to the transmission he picked up at his observatory. The alien goes on to
explain that he is a renegade and outlaw from Trogg, a planet in the
Beta-Centauri system. He states that, although Earth is a war-like world,
it is a poor second to Trogg in the art of destruction. From their
earliest history, they have loved war. Their only glory is battle, their
only art the graceful imparting of death. Hundreds of planetary periods
before, they developed a space-drive, and took their warriors to nearby
planets - - burning, crushing, erasing whole civilizations. At last, they
had nothing left to conquer.

Frustrated, their Leader, Ghorto, called a meeting of the Supreme
Council. The Leader proclaimed that they must journey to the stars to find
a worthy foe. He selected Earth, a world populated by beings nearly as
mighty as they. It was at that point that K-Way-Zzr stood up, saying they
should put an end to bloodshed, and turn their attention to peace. One
Councilman proclaimed that K-Way-Zzr was speaking treason and should be
arrested. K-Way-Zzr fled the Council and Trogg, determined to warn the
people of Earth. He had been a Captain in the Troggian Space-Navy, so he
had no problem commandeering a star-ship. Since the Leader had already
prepared the vanguard of his Earth invasion, it was no problem for him to
dispatch ships to follow. K-Way-Zzr hid in a space-warp, hoping to elude
his pursuers and contact a responsible Earth government. When he saw their
ship under siege, he intervened.

When asked why he shot at them, K-Way-Zzr apologizes, explaining that
he was stunned and was fighting instinctively. Merritt tells Tempest to
warm up the transmitter so they can call Senator Beauregard with proof.
Tempest says they should first free their captive, but when he has trouble
pronouncing the name "Captain K-Way-Zzr", the alien suggests an easier
name - - Captain Quasar. K-Way-Zzr then easily snaps his bonds, freeing
himself. As they exchange greetings, Merritt shows K-Way-Zzr his .45
pistol, and looks over the alien's laser-projector gun.

Shortly, just as the astronauts contact Senator Beauregard, two
Troggians enter the airlock and fire on the crew, knocking out the
transmitter. The invaders point their laser-projectors at the trio,
telling them to drop their weapons. The Troggians state that Earthlings
will be easily conquered, then inform K-Way-Zzr that, on orders of Leader
Ghorto, he is to be executed for the crime of high treason. Before
K-Way-Zzr can be killed, Tempest attacks one of the aliens, but is knocked
down. Merritt and K-Way-Zzr use the diversion to fight back. During the
battle, one of the laser-projectors is fired, striking the ship's wiring,
plunging the ship into darkness. K-Way-Zzr gropes around in the dimly lit
cabin for a weapon. He finds Merritt's .45 and shoots, wounding his fellow
Troggians with the primitive firearm. Merritt switches on the emergency
power circuit, and the trio place the aliens in the ship's brig. "Captain
Quasar" joins the crew in their common enterprise to protect Earth and
stop further attacks by the Troggian invaders.

Koppy McFadMember

posted February 23, 2002 03:04 AM

THE MOONDANCERS

This all female trio made only one appearance in a 1983 issue of
World's Finest. At the time, Batman and Superman's friendship had been
fraying due to the events that led Batman to quit the Justice League and
form the Outsiders and this issue showcased how their bond had changed and
also how it remained as strong as ever.

The real names or origins of the Moondancers were never revealed. They
were following the orders of a mysterious benefactor (whose identity was
later revealed in that issue) but it was clear that they were working with
him for a common purpose and were not his underlings.

The three members were:
Crescent Moon: silver haired pilot of a crescent-shaped flying platform.
Harvest Moon: muscular redhead with the power to grow to ten feet.
New Moon: a black woman who could fire freezing blasts, as cold as the dark
side of the moon.

The three were radical pacifists who had been secretly sabotaging
military satellites. Batman was brought in to investigate and meets with
three men-- a Carl Sagan-like astronomer, a gung-ho military general and a
soft-spoken Japanese scientist-- who are all possible suspects as being
the brains behind the plot. The next time the Moondancers attack the
launch of a military satellite, Batman clashes with them, holding his own.
Before escaping, Crescent Moon hit Batman with some sort of gas provided
by their benefactor. She thought it would merely knock him out but
instead, he is stricken with an incurable, fatal illness.

Despite their estrangement, Superman is summoned to the missile base to
save Batman. He determines that the only way to cure his old partner is to
find some power source not of this Earth. So he flies off into space and
plucks "the heart of a comet" out to use it as a cure for Batman.

As he uses the extraterrestrial power source, the Sagan-lookalike, the
general and the Japanese scientist all look on, very interested. Batman is
cured but is still weak so Superman leaves him at the base and flies off
to fight a crimewave that broke out in Batman's absence.

The mysterious benefactor is then shown telling the Moondancers that he
gave them the deadly weapon to use against Batman, knowing that Superman would
be forced to find some invaluble new power source that he can use. Despite
their misgivings about their ally, the Moondancers follow his instructions
to obtain the new power source. They sneak into the rocket base and
overpower the still-recovering Batman, taking the power source with them.
But Superman and Batman follow them and soon have the Moondancers on the ropes.

That is when their mysterious benefactor reveals himself-- the Japanese
scientist, who it turns out, is a survivor of Hiroshima and is still
unhinged by the event. He tries to use his weapon with the new power
source, to destroy the missile base but Superman stops him. The scientist,
now hysterical, rushes into the flames of his shattered weapon but is
saved by Crescent Moon.

The Moondancers tell Bats and Supes they never meant any harm but only
wanted to bring about world peace. While disagreeing with their methods,
Batman and Superman apparently decide to let them go with a warning. "You
better not let us catch you doing this again," Superman says.

"Don't worry, you won't catch us," the Moondancers reply.

That was the last we saw of them. Whether this adventure is still
within continuity is questionable. Of course, if anyone ever needs some
radical peace-nik group for a story, the Moondancers are still there for
the taking. You could even expand their membership: Full Moon, a werewolf,
Hunter's Moon, a sniper, Blue Moon, an empath, etc.

Koppy McFadMember

posted February 23, 2002 03:53 AM

THE SINO-SUPERMEN

Not really characters. They were more of a type of character that
debuted in Batman Family no. 19, sometime in the early-1980s and appeared
only twice.

First the backstory: in the pre-Crisis DC, Commissioner Gordon had a
grown son who became a spy in Red China. He managed to escape the Chinese
and get back to the States but apparently, the Chinese were so vengeful
that Gordon's son felt it was too dangerous to come out in the open and so
he remained in hiding in the US, not even telling his father or his
sister, Barbara Gordon, Batgirl, where he was.

Incidentally, Barbara Gordon was a congresswoman at the time, something
that everyone seems to have forgotten. She used her government contacts to
try and find out what happened to her brother and this eventually brought
her into conflict with the Sino-Supermen.

The Sino-Supermen were super-powered agents, created by Beijing. As
Batgirl is later told by an intelligence agent, the Chinese refuse to
believe that Superman, the Flash and all the other superheroes were
created by accident and believe that they were secret products of the US
government. The US, for its part, encourages such thinking, perhaps
because they want the Chinese to waste their resources trying to come out
with their own superheroes.

The Chinese superbeings (who included women), were pretty much crude
knock-offs of American heroes like Superman, Supergirl, Flash, Green
Lantern and Batman, but with one glaring defect. Just a few seconds after
they used their powers, these guys would BLOW UP. Despite this virtual
death sentence, none of the Sino-Supermen ever displayed anything beyond a
fanatical devotion to duty.

They never got much of a chance to show off any characterization at
all. Their appearances would go like this: Imitation Superman knocks open
a wall., glows ominously, then explodes. Imitation Green Lantern blasts a
crowd of cops, glows ominously and then explodes. Most of these suicide
superbeings never got any lines.

Eventually Batgirl finds out what happened to her brother. As for the
Sino-Supermen, they are never heard of again. Their few appearances are
likely no longer in continuity as Commissioner Gordon's grown son has been
retconned away. Still if anyone needs some heavies for a story set in
China, those low-cost labs can probably mass produce these guys by the
thousands.

Koppy McFadMember

posted February 23, 2002 06:24 AM

Now it's my turn to bring up a character. Maybe he was mentioned before
but I didn't see it.

Commando Yank

An old Fawcett hero.
We laughed at his name.
We saw him in one panel in the old POWER OF SHAZAM!.
We wondered about a superhero who goes around carrying a Garand rifle.

Who was he? What were his powers, his background, his origin, his
secret identity? Did he actually operate in the battlefields or was he
another one of those home front heroes? Was he a major Fawcett character
like Bullet Man or a minor throwaway character?

Perspiring minds want to know.

Kid PsychoutMember

posted February 23, 2002 08:11 PM

Well, this is probably the place for it, so's can anyone also list some of
the more obscure heroes DC owns the rights to?

Madame Fatal
The Hunchback
Mr. Alpha
Wildfire

and anyone heard of an old GL villian called the Dazzler?

outpost2Member

posted February 25, 2002 08:59 PM

THE SEVEN SHADOWS
JSA #18 (Jan 2001)

Opal City, 1944. The Justice Society attempt to stop Johnny Sorrow, a
small-time costumed crook who has stolen and donned a subspace vest
prototype. Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Starman, and Sandman are unsuccessful in
trapping their enemy, who uses the vest to phase in and out of normal
space. Sandy the Golden Boy, sidekick to the Sandman, notices that the
vest's glow seems to fade just as Sorrow phases back in, so he carefully
takes aim with his special arrow-gun and, at just the right moment, fires.
The arrow punctures the vest's harness and causes it to short-circuit.
Johnny Sorrow, screaming in pain, is torn asunder by the hyper-dimensional
forces. Sandy is horrified, believing that Sorrow's mask is all that
remains of their foe.

Six months later, a mysterious figure appears in Sandy's bedroom,
kidnapping the boy and teleporting him away. Sandy wakes up, in costume,
on the stage of an abandoned Chicago theater. The teen hero learns that
Johnny Sorrow has been transformed by his encounter with the King of
Tears, the "god" of the alien dimension known as the Subtle Realms. Sorrow
then motions to the audience. Six members of the group called the Seven
Shadows lie dead before them. Dr. Nowhere, Jake Justice, the Shard (a.k.a.
the Luminary), Man-At-Arms, Lodestar, and the Veil were all killed when
Johnny Sorrow revealed to them what he hid under his mask. Only the Scarab
escaped, traumatized at what he had gazed upon. Just as Johnny Sorrow
prepares to take his revenge on Sandy, Scarab and the Justice Society come
to the rescue. After summoning the entity called the King of Tears, Johnny
Sorrow hastily teleports away. Following an intense battle, the Spectre
succeeds in containing the alien creature.

Johnny Sorrow and the King of Tears would not surface again for over
half a century, when they would once again be defeated by the Justice
Society.

...that they felt that the U.S. had used their technology after their
first encounter with Batgirl and created Firestorm (that, at the time,
Firestorm was a new hero...and he showed up just after Batgirl encounted
them for the first time...)

An obscure Quality Comics character from the Golden Age, Madam Fatal
was the world's first cross-dressing super-hero. Richard Stanton donned
the unassuming disguise of a little old lady to fight crime on the
homefront. Criminals never suspected that the harmless old woman was
actually a costumed mystery man-- until it was too late!

Madam Fatal's activities after the war are unrecorded. Eventually,
Richard Stanton passed away of presumably natural causes. He is buried in
Valhalla Cemetery (as revealed in JSA #1). Sadly, the only mourners at his
funeral were the touring company of La Cage aux Folles, the musical known
to American audiences as the inspiration for the film, "The Birdcage".
Draw your own conclusions from that.

S8ntmarkMember

posted February 26, 2002 11:56 PM

Wow! Over 300 characters and you guys STILL have forgotten a few, namely...
my favorites!

I don't think I've made an appearance on an obscure characters thread
since the first or second one!

All right:

Commando Yank - Fawcett characters are a bit of a blind spot for me,
but I can tell you that he had no super-powers, sometime Johnny Quick
artist Dan Barry drew his stories for a while. He appeared in WOW COMICS #6
and lasted through (I think) to #69, wherein WOW became REAL WESTERN HERO.

Hunchback - got slightly more for you. From WOW COMICS #2, 1941:
"Allan Lanier, son of a wealthy family, has long sought a way to fight
crime and its instigators! Hitting upon a plan that an ugly dwarfed menace
should strike sheer horror into the hearts of bad men, Lanier becomes the
terrible Hunchback, spine-chilling figure of the night!". Lanier was harsh
on criminals, beating them with a club and on one occasion in his four
issue run, strangling a corrupt D.A. to death! His outfit was green.

Mr. Alpha - Only appearance: ALL STAR COMICS #50 (12/49-1/50) Mr. A
is a criminal, not a hero. A graduate of Midwestern U. (class of '38)
alongside one Jason P. Garrick, Ted Kincaid commits crime at the same time as
the ten-year reunion (actually a year late!) based on geology (crime foiled
by Hawkman and the Atom), meteorology (foiled by Doc Mid-Nite and Black
Canary), zoology (foiled by Flash and Wonder Woman) and metallurgy (foiled
by Green Lantern). However, at some point in the "small team" proceedings,
the JSAers are captured, but rescued by a mysterious stranger, who turns
out to be Paul Turnbull, another classmate of Garrick's. Turnbull had
predicted in his yearbook that he would become Mr. Alpha and commit crimes
based on the sciences he studied. Kincaid, who had lost all his money on
the stock market, remembered this and sought to make Turnbull the scapegoat.

Mr. Alpha wore a blue and red costume with a belt with an "A" as its
buckle. He was referenced briefly in AMERICA VS. THE JSA #4, referred to
as Fred, not Ted Kincaid. Garrick reported that Kincaid "went straight"
after he'd served his jail sentence.

I do have some information on Wildfire (a Quality heroine not to be
confused with generic Quality pilot Spitfire, from CRACK COMICS), but I'll
have to dig it out. All I know off the top of my head is that she was in
SMASH COMICS, was an intended member of the All-Star Squadron, but was
replaced by the second Firebrand because DC editors didn't want her to be
confused with the Wildfire from the Legion, and that she is briefly
glimpsed in GOLDEN AGE #4. She has a very strange hairdo that is
supposed to look like flames, but she looks a little like a sunflower!

More to come....

dataloreMember

posted February 27, 2002 08:40 AM The Moondancers were in comic book limbo when Animal Man went there
(it frustrated me since I got a good run of the later 16 issues of ANIMAL MAN
recently, and couldn't remember all those folks Buddy ran into...only
found out about the Moondancers by PURE accident and remembered they were
the ladies I couldn't identify...ditto on Tabu in the Vixen issues (12 was
where my run of these ANIMAL MAN issues began...and Grant didn't give us
her name there; I know he named the two yellow aliens too, but again, not
in the issues I got...)

And, in line with the obscure characters (and another topic on
Hitman...a little info on the aliens who created the new bloods...and in
honor of my finding a set of the Bloodlines trading cards...and did you
know they only had pictures of the aliens; so for anyone who might have
gotten a set of those cards and want to know about the aliens...)

BLOODLINES ALIENS

ANGON
First Appearance: LOBO ANNUAL #1 (1993)

This Bloodlines alien was a red armored female who was the embodiment
of anger. Her and the other six of her group escaped Pax's universe to
come to this dimension. Encountered by Lobo and the forces of
L.E.G.I.O.N., they suffered the loss of one of their number (which limited
their shape-changing abilities to their alien form and one humanoid form),
and then crash-landed their pod-ship in the Mullholland nature preserve, a
swamp outside of Metropolis. She created the new blood heroes of Edge,
Ballistic, Jamm, Prism, and, with all of her brethren, had a hand (or
tentacle) in creating Pax. She did not survive the birthing of the Taker.

GEMIR
First Appearance: LOBO ANNUAL #1 (1993)

This Bloodlines alien was a flame haired, red armored male with
arm-wings in alien form who was the embodiment of greed. He and the other
six of his group escaped Pax's universe to come to this dimension.
Encountered by Lobo and the forces of L.E.G.I.O.N., they suffered the loss
of one of their number (which limited their shape-changing abilities to
their alien form and one humanoid form), and then crash-landed their
pod-ship in the Mullholland nature preserve, a swamp outside of
Metropolis. He created the new blood heroes of Joe Public, Myriad, Sparx,
Cardinal Sin, Samaritan and, with all of his brethren, had a hand (or
tentacle) in creating Pax. He did not survive the birthing of the Taker.

GLONTH
First Appearance: LOBO ANNUAL #1 (1993)

This Bloodlines alien was a fat, purple armored male who was the
embodiment of gluttony. He and the other six of his group escaped Pax's
universe to come to this dimension. Encountered by Lobo and the forces of
L.E.G.I.O.N., they suffered the loss of one of their number (which limited
their shape-changing abilities to their alien form and one humanoid form),
and then crash-landed their pod-ship in the Mullholland nature preserve, a
swamp outside of Metropolis. He created the new blood heroes of Loose
Cannon, "Hitman" Tommy Monaghan, Chimera and, with all of his brethren,
had a hand (or tentacle) in creating Pax. He did not survive the birthing
of the Taker.

LISSIK
First Appearance: LOBO ANNUAL #1 (1993)

This Bloodlines alien was a red-haired, purple armored female who was
the embodiment of lust. Her and the other six of her group escaped Pax's
universe to come to this dimension. Encountered by Lobo and the forces of
L.E.G.I.O.N., they suffered the loss of one of their number (which limited
their shape-changing abilities to their alien form and one humanoid form),
and then crash-landed their pod-ship in the Mullholland nature preserve, a
swamp outside of Metropolis. She created the new blood heroes of Anima,
Nightblade, Hook, Terrorsmith (co-created with Venev), Mongrel, and, with
all of her brethren, had a hand (or tentacle) in creating Pax. She did not
survive the birthing of the Taker.

PRITOR
First Appearance: LOBO ANNUAL #1 (1993)

This Bloodlines alien was a blue armored male with butterfly-wings in
alien form who was the embodiment of pride. He and the other six of his
group escaped Pax's universe to come to this dimension. Encountered by
Lobo and the forces of L.E.G.I.O.N., they suffered the loss of one of
their number (which limited their shape-changing abilities to their alien
form and one humanoid form), and then crash-landed their pod-ship in the
Mullholland nature preserve, a swamp outside of Metropolis. He created the
new blood heroes of Lionheart, Geist, and, with all of his brethren, had a
hand (or tentacle) in creating Pax. He did not survive the birthing of the
Taker.

SLODD
First Appearance: LOBO ANNUAL #1 (1993)

This Bloodlines alien was a yellow armored male who was the embodiment
of sloth. He and the other six of his group escaped Pax's universe to come
to this dimension. Encountered by Lobo and the forces of L.E.G.I.O.N., he
was killed by a grenade stuffed in his mouth by Lobo. His loss limited the
others shape-changing abilities to their alien form and one humanoid
form). He created the new blood hero of Layla and, with all of his
brethren, had a hand (or tentacle) in creating Pax. It was by feeding his
dead form to the the Taker that the Taker emerged from the pod in the
Mullholland nature preserve outside of Metropolis.

VENEV
First Appearance: LOBO ANNUAL #1 (1993)

This Bloodlines alien was a six-armed, green armored female who was the
embodiment of envy. Her and the other six of her group escaped Pax's
universe to come to this dimension. Encountered by Lobo and the forces of
L.E.G.I.O.N., they suffered the loss of one of their number (which limited
their shape-changing abilities to their alien form and one humanoid form),
and then crash-landed their pod-ship in the Mullholland nature preserve, a
swamp outside of Metropolis. She created the new blood heroes of Argus,
Razorsharp, Terrorsmith (co-created with Lissik), Gunfire (and possibly
Ragnarok), and, with all of her brethren, had a hand (or tentacle) in
creating Pax. She did not survive the birthing of the Taker.

What the seven Bloodlines aliens were feeding with the spinal fluid
they had collected from humans across the earth. When it was birthing from
the Bloodlines' aliens pod-ship, it send out a subliminal call to all the
new bloods created by the destruction caused by the aliens (and proving
that there is a subtle telepathic link between all the new blood heroes).
The Taker was able to immobilize a contingent of earth heroes directed to
the scene by Amanda Waller, including various members of a special Justice
League Task Force (with members from both Justice League America and
Justice League International, as well as old Justice League of America
members), the New Titans, the Team Titans, Deathstroke, Robin, Superboy,
the Eradicator, Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) and even Etrigan the Demon.
The Taker was stopped by the combined forces of the new blood heroes (who
had discovered they could literally combine their powers into one being,
thanks to the help of the Animus of Anima). His body was taken away by
Lobo under the direction of Vril Dox II and the L.E.G.I.O.N. A Taker clone
was created by the Quarum and stopped by the Blood Pack (a collection of
new bloods led by Jade), and hitman Tommy Monaghan and his friend, Natt
the Hat, sacrificed their lives to stop an organization within the United
States Government from grafting alien parts to humans in order to create
new meta-humans they could control.

Sorry for this little alien invasion, but hope folks find it of
interest (and I'll likely come back with some stuff on the new bloods who
had no other appearances other than the ANNUAL and in BLOODBATH...if this
is of interest...)

...now, back to your regularly scheduled Obscure characters...

S8ntmarkMember

posted February 27, 2002 09:59 AM

I'm beginning to think that The Dead Detective sounds absolutely
wild! Brilliant! I cant wait to go out and hunt do those issues of WASTELAND.
They should bring him back for a Vertigo mini or one shot.

HellstoneMember

posted February 27, 2002 10:28 AM

John Moores is back on the obscure track. I've missed you, pal.

Datalore - thank you for the Moondancers info. If they were seen in
"comic book limbo", then their last appearance was ANIMAL MAN #25 (July 1990),
"Monkey Puzzle".

Dyno-Man is the hero of the planet Sorrta, and an "old buddy" of
Superman's, which is why the Man of Steel was invited to Sorrta to
participate in a parade in Dyno-Man's honor. During the parade, the
vehicle Dyno-Man was riding in exploded, killing the hero. Dramon, the
head of Sorrta's security police, accused Superman of murder and had his
men slap a red-sun belt on him to neutralize his powers.

Superman was assigned an attorney, an attractive blonde named Rilora
Dorc, but the evidence was against him: witnesses claimed they saw a heat
ray from Superman's direction destroy the vehicle (even though his heat
vision is invisible); a forged videotape showed Superman fighting with
Dyno-Man on an earlier visit to Sorrta; and a confession made by Superman
(under the influence of a drug).

Rilora uncovered evidence that Dramon killed Dyno-Man and framed
Superman as part of a plan to make himself dictator; but before she could
present it, a crazed lynch mob broke Superman out of jail and tried to
execute him. However, Dyno-Man showed up at the last second, saving
Superman and removing his red-sun belt. It seems that Dyno-Man knew about
Dramon's plan, and substituted a lifelike android for himself in the
parade. Together, the two superheroes rescued Rilora from death at
Dramon's hands, and Dramon himself fell into the path of his own metalizer
ray, transforming him into metal and fusing his body to a metal wall in
the Sorrtan prison. The parade was rescheduled, this time honoring three
heroes: Dyno-Man, Superman, and Rilora.

John Moores 3Member

posted February 28, 2002 11:07 AM

Nice to be back.

I've got an obscure suggestion for y'all:

70s Superman foe Whirlicane, and his android(s) Thunder and/or
Lightning. I like that story, but could use a bit of a reminder of it.

On that note, anyone remember Solarman, from about the same time,
when Superman lost his powers, when dressed as Clark due to the
machinations of the alien Xvier?

Ace ArnMember

posted February 28, 2002 11:17 AM

Originally posted by John Moores 3:

On that note, anyone remember Solarman, from about the same time, when
Superman lost his powers, when dressed as Clark due to the machinations of the
alien Xvier?

If I recall correctly, he was an unnamed criminal scientist who
attempted to give himself powers on a par with Superman's by wearing a
vest covered with solar cells. I believe Superman defeated him by
overloading his vest with heat vision.

Comix_Fan_I_AmNew Member

posted February 28, 2002 12:55 PM

What about Ragman? Anyone else remember him?
I have (or had) his entire run at one time or another...

Is he considered obscure??

The VigilanteMember

posted February 28, 2002 01:37 PM

Here's a couple of more I know...assuming that the Pulsar we're talking
about is the one I've noted.

#52 - Burp The Twerp

(from http://members.tripod.com/originalvigilante/burpthetwerp.htm ).

Burp the Twerp (the Super Son of a Gun) was a man to watch out for...when
last seen, he had Plastic Man shaking in his boots!

Well, kinda anyway. Burp the Twerp was a one-page humor feature that
ran in several Quality Comics publications in the forties, including
BLACKHAWK and POLICE COMICS. His shtick was that he had
every power of every super-hero...but unfortunately he was a considerable
klutz and things didn't quite go the right way for him most of the time.

The strip was "signed" by Ralph Johns, but this was just another
pseudonym for the legendary Jack Cole, creator of Firebrand, Midnight,
Woozy Winks and, of course, Plastic Man. Burp premiered in the second
issue of POLICE COMICS, co-inciding with the second adventures of
Plastic Man, Midnight, Firebrand and several other popular Quality features.

Naturally for a humor strip, there wasn't a whole lot of continuity to
be concerned with. The strips that I have read are all fairly funny, in a
Basil Wolverton-Powerhouse Pepper way. I think the one episode of any real
noteworthiness is the page in POLICE COMICS #23 (December, 1943),
in which Jack Cole's star, Plastic Man, makes a brief cameo appearance
(which was reprinted in Ron Goulart's Focus on Jack Cole).

After the demise of Quality Comics, Burp the Twerp made only one more
appearance. DC Comics' SECRET ORIGINS #30 (Volume 2), featured the
secret origin of Plastic Man. Roy Thomas, Stephen DeStefano and Paul
Fricke. Thomas and DeStefano put Burp the Twerp in the background, and had
the little guy meet Woozy Winks and Plas at the end of the story. After
Burp left, Plas told Woozy who it was, and warned "If you ever get him mad
at us, he'll come back and take over, and then we're all out of business!"

Well, that hasn't exactly happened yet...but there are still those of us
who are waiting...

The Black Heart, a band of urban terrorists, are surrounded by the
police in their Gotham Village headquarters, but manage to escape even the
Batman and vow revenge on Katy, the woman who betrayed them to the authorities.

Meanwhile, Val Armorr, the 30th Century Legionnaire known as Karate
Kid, returns to the old tenement he lived in when he resided in the 20th
Century for a short while, looking for his old girlfriend Iris Jacobs.

A super-powered assassin named Pulsar, apparently hired by the Black
Heart, breaks into the jail in which Katy is being held. The Batman
prevents her murder, and in the ensuing confusion, she manages to escape,
killing a passing motorist for his car. When she crashes the vehicle, Iris
Jacobs helps her into her apartment. Soon after, Karate Kid shows up as
well, but has to leave when seeing a news report about Pulsar's attack. He
meets up with The Batman (who remembers him from his own sojourn into the
30th Century), and they compare notes and clues to realize that Katy is at
Iris's apartment, arriving at the exact same time as Pulsar and the Black Heart.

The Black Heart members were defeated by Batman, Pulsar was apparently
killed by one of the Black Heart, who booby-trapped his costume and power
staff. Iris managed to subdue Katy. As everyone is hauled off to jail, Val
tells Iris that he was actually there to invite her to his wedding to
Princess Projectra. Iris became heart-broken over that and Val went back
to the 30th Century without her.

Note: This issue featured the first DC Comics work for Chuck Patton,
who later went on to pencil quite a few issues of Justice League of
America, during the Detroit League era. He does a rather good job on this
story. This tale was also a conclusion of sorts for the short-lived KARATE
KID comic, as well as a lead-in to THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES ANNUAL #2,
which featured the actual wedding of Karate Kid and Princess Projectra.

outpost2Member

posted February 28, 2002 06:07 PM

Vig,

I just checked out your web site. Great stuff! Quite a bit of your
material would be appropriate here. So, if you're game, how about:

With regard to Pulsar, it looks like there were two characters of the
same name. IIRC, the other Pulsar was from NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY.

Glad to see that John Moores is back. Anyone know if some of the other
earlier contributors (Mikishawm, D.R. Black, etc.) are still lurking around?

Ace ArnMember

posted February 28, 2002 06:10 PM

Originally posted by outpost2:

With regard to Pulsar, it looks like there were two characters of the same
name. IIRC, the other Pulsar was from NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY.

I'm not sure, but could you be referring to Pulsar Stargrave, the Legion villain who at
different times claimed to be Brainiac 5's father and the original Brainiac?

highthiefMember

posted February 28, 2002 06:31 PM

ISIS

Isis was a made for TV character who shared air time with Shazam, or
Captain Marvel as he is better known.

The Isis segments featured high school teacher Andrea Thomas, who
discovered an ancient Egyptian amulet while on an archaeological
expedition. Through the amulet, Andrea was given super strength, super
speed, the power of flight, and a form of telekinesis. Like Billy Batson
before her, Andrea literally transformed into a new superhero, the
inimitable Isis. Also like her male counterpart, the heroine received her
powers from an ancient legendary source, the Egyptian goddess Isis, by
intoning the magic words, "Oh mighty Isis!"

Andrea used these newfound powers to right wrongs and defend the
helpless and downtrodden. Joining her on the show were pet crow Tut,
fellow teacher Rick Mason, and students Renee Carroll and Cindy Lee.
Somehow, the other humans never managed to figure out her secret identity.

After two seasons together, the heroes parted ways. Isis continued to
fight evil under the new title 'The Secrets of Isis' from 1977-78. Both
heroes later returned to Saturday morning in animated form, Isis as part
of 'Tarzan and the Super 7' and Captain Marvel as half of 'The Kid Super
Power Hour With Shazam'.

DC ran a book for Isis from 76 to 78, I believe.

outpost2Member

posted February 28, 2002 07:09 PM

Ace,
The Pulsar I'm referring to appeared in NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY #31.
However, Pulsar Stargrave is yet another good candidate for this thread.

The Obscure Characters list is becoming like the mythical Hydra...
eliminate one item and two more take its place! For instance, how did we ever forget such
memorable characters as B'wana Beast/Freedom Beast, Brother Power the
Geek, Prez, the Captains of Industry, and the Conqueror of Barren Earth?

Ace ArnMember

posted February 28, 2002 10:34 PM

FLORA, THE GIRL IN THE GOLDEN FLOWER

1st and only appearance: Strange Adventures #18 (March 1952), "The Girl
in the Golden Flower"
Description: Blonde hair with a red streak; light green one-piece "bathing suit"
with leafy dark green collar; purple blotches on her left shoulder and left thigh.

One spring day, a tiny spore drifted into Earth's atmosphere from
space, and landed in a flowerbox outside the window of astronomer Brad Mulford's
cottage. A few days later, Brad noticed an oddly colored flower in the box that
he didn't recognize, and couldn;t identify from any of his botany books.

Shortly after that, one hot night, Brad had a dream that he was
standing in a scarlet desert on an alien world, and fireballs were falling
from the sky. He met a girl named Flora, and rescued her from the
fireballs by bringing her to a river. The next morning he noticed the odd
flower withering from too much sun, and gave it some extra water. It also
occurred to him that the flower's colors matched those of the girl in his dream.

Some time later, on a rainy night, he dreamed of Flora again. This
time, he saved her from a flood caused by giant raindrops. The next
morning, he noticed the flower sagging from too much water.

Brad began to suspect that the flower was somehow telepathically
communicating with him, causing him to have these dreams. He moved the
flowerbox to the windy side of his cottage, and sure enough, the next
night he dreamed of saving Flora from a violent hurricane. The next
morning, he transplanted the flower into a hothouse where it would be protected.

For the rest of the summer, the flower thrived, and Brad dreamed every
night of visiting worlds beyond our solar system with Flora by his side.
But when autumn arrived, Brad had a final dream in which Flora died in his
arms, saying that they would meet again. In the morning, Brad found the
flower had died. But just then, the doorbell rang. It was a pretty blonde
transfer student named Flora Everard, who was sent to meet Brad by a
professor at the university... and she had a funny feeling that she and
Brad had met each other somewhere before....

(This story was reprinted in the MYSTERY IN SPACE trade paperback in 1999.)

The Assemblers entry (which will include Blue Jay, Silver Sorceress,
Wandjina, Captain Speed, Bowman II, and Tin Man) is on its way. It's just
that I've bud on JLofA #87 (their first appearance) on eBay, and will see if
I can get the issue before I write the entry.

The Terrific Whatzit and Sponge Man will come in time.

HellstoneMember

posted March 01, 2002 09:00 AM

By the way, the Flora story was also reprinted in DC SPECIAL #3, the
all-girl issue. Here, Flora shared the space with DC's female "icons" such
as Wonder Woman, Black Canary, and Supergirl.

dataloreMember

posted March 01, 2002 10:17 AM

Consider this a start on the Captains of Industry (I should get
more, and Major Victory will get more under the Force of July, and Firehawk
and Maser/Air Wave II rate their own, IMHO).

Firehawk
First Appearance: (as Firehawk) Fury Of Firestorm #17
- still healthy and fine, she was recently in WONDER WOMAN #174 and 175; Lorraine
Reilly has fire powers like Firestorm...

Catalyst
First Appearance: Blue Beetle (vol. 5) #14
- was working for Kobra in JSA #11 and 12; he was a Blue Beetle foe, who
later was put into the Captains in the later issues of FIRESTORM.

Maser
First Appearance (as Air Wave II): Green Lantern (vol. 2) #100
- back to his Air Wave name after JSA: OUR WORLDS AT WAR, after
being freed from Kobra by the JSA in JSA #11 and 12 (again, that Kobra
guy... ); he is the cousin of Hal Jordan, and used to hang out with GL,
Green Arrow, Black Canary and Atom PRE-Crisis (which at least SOME of this
history still exists), and got changed by Dr. Moon into Maser in FIRESTORM
#88 (and faced Brimstone off-panel in FIRESTORM #99...)

Major Victory
First Appearance: Batman And The Outsiders Annual #1
- William Vickers was killed by Eclipso in ECLIPSO #13 (he was also in the
Force of July in BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS and THE OUTSIDERS, and Suicide Squad
after they killed the other Force members...); premiered in the BATMAN AND THE
OUTSIDERS ANNUAL #1, later in THE OUTSIDERS #10-12, 23, THE OUTSIDERS
SPECIAL and INFINITY INC SPECIAL, before seeing the Force of July killed
during the course of the Janus Directive in SUICIDE SQUAD (#27-30), and
serving with them from #31-39, and 58...before being one of many useful DCU
characters killed in ECLIPSO #11-13...

Silver Swan (Post-Crisis)
First Appearance: Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #15
Valerie Beaudry was also getting attached to the Captains, but that
was never followed up on, and now there is another Silver Swan. Valerie
Beaudry was mostly in WONDER WOMAN issues (#15, 16, 42 - 44), until WAR OF THE GODS,
wherein she was also in SUICIDE SQUAD #58 with the Captains...

Ace ArnMember

posted March 01, 2002 11:35 AM

Sorry, I didn't realize that we were supposed to register. In that case,
if the Arrows of Alaska, Crusader, Missile Men, and the Dazzler are
available, put me down for them. I'll try to dig out the issues they were
in over the weekend.

The VigilanteMember

posted March 01, 2002 01:56 PM

Originally posted by outpost2:

Vig,
I just checked out your web site. Great stuff! Quite a bit of your
material would be appropriate here. So, if you're game, how about:
Heckler, King Faraday, Ragman, Spanner's Galaxy, Vext, Yankee Doodle,
and (when finished) Thriller.

No problem, will do...or will get to over the next week or so.

I'll wait to do King Faraday though, since I'm waiting on the mail for
a copy of SHOWCASE #50 so I'll finally have all of what's been reprinted
of the original DANGER TRAIL.

--Rich

The VigilanteMember

posted March 01, 2002 02:08 PM

296.1 SPANNER'S GALAXY

Spanner's Galaxy was a six-issue limited series by Nicola Cuti and Tom Mandrake.

For those who have never read the series, a long, long time ago, the
Kaborians arrived on Earth and brought the age of chivalry to the
then-primitive society. Over the years and centuries that followed, the
inhabitants of Earth lost touch with that part of their early culture and
eventually united the entire Milky Way Galaxy under a Confederation of
Free Worlds, in which trade and commerce flourished wildly. The Kaborians,
and their art of chivalry, were largely forgotten.

Polaris Spanner was born on the planet Proxie, which was also known as
Spanner's World, where his father Rigel ran a jelly farm and did research.
A jelly farm grows jellies, which are giant amoeba-like creatures made of
protoplasm, which is the basic building block of most furniture a kitchen
utensils of the time, and was stronger than plastic.

Spanner fell in one of the jelly pens when two of his alien friends
demonstrated how to "castle", disappearing and leaving a pair of Kaborians
in their place. His injuries were so severe that the Kaborians castled
back with him to their home planet so he could get immediate medical treatment.

Spanner had just returned from a trip to Star City with his father,
where his father ran into some trouble purchasing a "shek", which was a
strange and unique weapon, and Spanner met a young thief named Andromeda
Jones. The Kaborians who castled in had actually been the ones causing
trouble for Spanner's father, as they had wanted to purchase the shek, so
that it could be buried with the warrior who had used it.

After recuperating from his injuries, Spanner stayed on Kabor and was
taught ancient Kaborian combat techniques that included the use of the
shek as an offensive and defensive weapon (it was could act as everything
from a boomerang to a laser shield). He was also taught the theory and
practice of "castling", which was a means of teleportation that could be
used on objects and for travel. Castling involved basically switching
places with something else somewhere else. Spanner took the vows to become
a Kaborian Knight, and was prepared to go out into the universe and bring
the practice of chivalry with him.

After working on, and later taking a partnership in the Medeusian
freighter, The Persius, Spanner castled into the midst of a group of
bounty hunters (called "pounders") and discovered that there was suddenly
a very high price on his head, by the President himself. Marcus Baka, a
former magistrate on Proxie, was set up as the head of the operation to
capture Spanner. Meanwhile, Andromeda was uniting her own guild of
pounders, under the colorful name of The Bluestar, and was planning to go
after Spanner herself for the reward. Spanner had become the most wanted
man in the galaxy.

In the course of his travels to escape his many pursuers, Spanner met
up with a small furry and very resourceful creature that was a Gadgeteer,
which he nicknamed "Gadj". Gadgeteers have the uncanny ability to put any
devices together using whatever parts and junk they have at hand and make
them work. He also learned that the authorities had released information
that said that Spanner was carrying a plague infection called The Hades
Germ, a disease that could wipe out an entire planet in the course of a
few days. With the support of his family, Spanner finally turned himself
into the authorities, and he was confined, with Gadj to a small asteroid
for the protection of the rest of the galaxy.

After six months in his asteroid prison, one of the Kaborians castled
with Spanner, taking him back to the home world he trained on. He was
brought there for trial, for having violated the Kaborian law, which
states "no castler may castle to avoid jeopardy if it means placing
another castler in jeopardy." Spanner pleads guilty to avoid having an old
school friend die in combat to prove his innocence. His sentence was to be
served in yet another prison while wearing "the Mask of Nygug". The mask
was made of narconium, which prevent the force lines needed for castling
from passing into Spanner (everything else, air, light, sound, food, etc.
could pass through unabated). Before he could serve his Kaborian sentence,
a woman on a flying Kamado Dragon abducted Spanner. She turned out to be
one of his police interrogators, a woman named Tenna. Tenna had done some
research that proved Spanner had been framed, because the Hades Germ did
not exist.

Tenna returned his shek and she and Spanner talked with Commander
Richard Harris, who had been working under Baka in the operation to find
Spanner. He soon discovered that Baka himself had started the entire
situation. The former pounder had wanted the power gem in Spanner's shek
to use as a power source for a unique black hole weapon one of his
compatriots had developed, with which he hoped to hold the universe for
ransom. Baka and Spanner met in combat and Baka actually defeated Spanner,
but was prevented from killing him by Andromeda. Baka slew the young woman
and took off with the power gem from the shek.

Spanner became a hero in all corners of the galaxy, and the President
appointed Spanner and Gadj as his "Personal Agents Extraordinary".
Spanner's first job was to hunt down the newest person on the most wanted
list: Baka.

The character of Yankee Doodle has a rather strange history. He was a
Silver Age super-hero who didn't appear in print until 1992. Now as
strange as that might seem, Yankee Doodle became something considerably
stranger than I think his original creators could've ever envisioned.

DOOM PATROL #51 (January 1992) marked the first appearance of
the man known as Yankee Doodle. But he was apparently originally intended
to see print back in May of 1964, in SHOWCASE #50. In fact, the
cover of DOOM PATROL #51 features a re-colored version of the Mike
Sekowsky/Frank Giacoia cover for that issue.

For some strange reason, both the cover and Yankee Doodle were pulled
from SHOWCASE #50, which instead did an issue of reprints of old
King Faraday adventures (under the collective title of "I Spy"). The only
information we have on the original treatment of the character can be
found on the cover: Prof John Dandy used a strange spray to become the
blank-faced Yankee Doodle, "master of disguise".

He looked considerably like Steve Ditko's The Question minus the hat,
a similarity that Morrison would actually use in the DP story. The concept
of the character may have also influenced the creation of The Unknown
Soldier in STAR-SPANGLED WAR STORIES.

Grant Morrison brought in Yankee Doodle during the final Brotherhood of
Dada story arc he did in Doom Patrol. For those not familiar with The Doom
Patrol, the team was originally a group of three "freaks" (Cliff
Steele/Robotman, Larry Trainor/Negative Man, Rita Farr/Elasti-Girl)
brought together by the enigmatic Niles Caulder, who was also known as the
Chief. The team went through various incarnations, and started handling
very strange and surrealistic menaces under the auspices of Morrison (best
known for his work on ANIMAL MAN).

According to Morrison's story, John Dandy worked as a special
government operative attached to the Pentagon's Unusual Operatives
Division. He had used his cover as an archaeologist to steal the research
notes of a Professor Rodor, which helped him create a special gas (housed
in a special ballpoint pen) that solidified on contact with air to produce
a malleable skin. He adopted the codename of "Yankee Doodle" and was
apparently very successful in his work for the government.

Longtime comics fans will recognize that Rodor was in fact the man who
provided the Question with the unique technology to create the blank
facemasks he wears as a part of his costume. At this point, the origin of
Yankee Doodle takes a leap off the diving board of the surreal.

Dandy volunteered to follow a bureaucrat into the City Under The
Pentagon because the man had stolen a lot of sensitive documents. The City
is a sort of other dimensional netherworld from which the Pentagon derives
power, strange operatives and even policy at times. At least that is my
personal interpretation of what Morrison was trying to get across to the
readers. No one who goes down there is ever really the same again, and
Dandy was no exception.

"There were garbled radio messages of enormous structures walking,
people or things with tunnels for eyes...and then we lost all contact" was
how the Major tried to explain it to Ms. Roddick as they went to see Dandy
to enlist his aid. A year later, something claiming to be John Dandy came
back. Something strange had happened to his face, and he told everyone
that he had swapped his original face for what he had now.

Dandy was brought up out of the City to help the government in its
quest to prevent Mr. Nobody (of the Brotherhood of Dada) from becoming
President. Mr. Nobody had used the bicycle of Albert Hoffman to create a
near-nationwide state of hallucinogenic bliss, and he was now offering the
voters the opportunity to enter the Painting, the quasi-dimension that had
changed him from old Doom Patrol enemy Mr. Morden into the two-dimensional
and multi-facted Mr. Nobody.

Dandy and the government forces attacked Nobody and the Brotherhood at
one of their rallies. They made short work of most of the Brotherhood of
Dada, and Dandy hurled one of his many faces onto Mr. Nobody's, which
changed him back into Morden and allowed Dandy the opportunity to impale
him on a piece of wood. The Love Glove (a Brotherhood of Dada member) and
Cliff Steele prevented Dandy from finishing the job. Military snipers
destroyed the only method of saving Mr. Nobody by incinerating the
painting, and he eventually just faded away. Cliff tossed Dandy across the
street into the roof where the snipers were located, possibly killing him
in the process.

Any one who read Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol series knows he has a
definite knack for making the weird out of the mundane...Cliff Steele was
the only real normal character in the book after a while, and he was a
human brain encased in a robot body. Yankee Doodle was another example of
this, but it was much easier to take than a lot of these metamorphoses
because we didn't really know the character...Dandy had a history but the
readers had never met him before this single story. It wasn't like the
transformation of Larry Trainor into Rebis, or even Rhea Jones' changes
during the Geomancers storyline.

Appearances: Doom Patrol (2nd series) #51, 53

outpost2Member

posted March 01, 2002 02:42 PM

Ace, typically no formal registering is expected. Usually it's just a
free-for-all. However, occasionally someone will say "I'll do such-and-such".
I should have copied those few posts from Round IV to Round V at the very beginning.
My mistake.

That said, the entries you mentioned (Arrows of Alaska, Crusader,
Missile Men, and the Dazzler) are now on your "informal" to-do list.

The VigilanteMember

posted March 01, 2002 08:41 PM

Would Hero Hotline be obscure enough for the thread? I just ask cuz I
finally got their mini-series again so all their appearances are here in
my greedy little hands

--Rich

outpost2Member

posted March 01, 2002 11:27 PM

I would say Hero Hotline qualifies as obscure. Consider them #143.1.

FYI, in addition to ACTION COMICS WEEKLY and the HERO HOTLINE mini, they
appeared in GUY GARDNER: WARRIOR #29, SUPERBOY v3 #65, and an issue or two
of SWAMP THING v2 and WONDER WOMAN v2 (sorry I don't have the exact issues).
Looking forward to this one.

Hmmmm, I just remembered something else. Zeep the Living Sponge (of the
Hotline's Night Crew) appeared prior to HERO HOTLINE #2, as part of the Dial 'H'
for HERO series in ADVENTURE COMICS #483. You may want to look into that too.

History: Sometime prior to the mid-1960's, on a world in another solar
system, an atomic war threatened to destroy that planet's humanoid
civilization. The volcanic tribes of that world were warring with other
groups over food and land. They even built a humanoid warrior called the
Destroyer to eliminate anything that prevented the volcano people from
expanding. A group of scientists gathered together to build something that
would balance out the destruction, before the world's inevitable end came.
They created a marvel of science, an artificial man, with amazing powers
which would be used for the good of mankind. They named him Captain
Marvel, the human robot.

Marvel was given rigorous training to master the special abilities that
were built into him. By speaking the word "Split!", the sentient robot
could separate his body parts and control the flying pieces. Upon speaking
the word "Xam!", the sections reconnected. He could even command
individual parts by speaking such commands as "Fingers off!", "Hands
off!", or "Feet run!". After time, he would only have to think the words
in order to execute the commands. Marvel soon learned of the nuclear
devastation of his planet, and of his special purpose. The knowledge of
his world's people was preserved in his computer mind; he was to use it to
help others. The scientists underscored the importance of rejuvenating his
source of energy on a daily basis. They explained to Marvel that the
medallion on his chest contained a material they call "X". By rubbing his
hand over it, he would retain his powers at maximum. On one test run,
Marvel was used to chase the Destroyer off-planet, stopping the advance of
the volcano people.

Then, one fateful day, the final atomic bombs fell. Marvel was given
astro-boots that would enable him to travel through space. He barely got
1,000 miles off the planet before it exploded. Marvel became a space
wanderer. After an unknown period of time, Marvel found Earth, circa 1965.
He approached the planet, but the heat of re-entry weakened him. A
teenager named Billy Baxton spotted the falling stranger and ran away in
fear. Marvel sent his hand to stop Billy, causing Billy to faint. Upon
waking, Billy was calmed and they became friends. Billy explained all
about the Earth and it's people. He helped Marvel get a suit of clothes,
and helped establish his civilian identity as Captain Marvel (presumably
explaining the "captain" title by claiming "Mr. Marvel" was a retired
military man). Soon, Marvel landed a job as a writer for an important
press service and purchased a home. Shortly after that, tired and dazed by
his long ordeal, Marvel developed temporary amnesia. Luckily, Billy
arrived and helped refresh his memory. Marvel would continue to have
occasional lapses about his early life, usually requiring someone or
something to jog his computer mind.

Captain Marvel initially wore no mask in his alternate role as
super-hero, but he soon gained recognition because of his global exploits.
Marvel realized he would need a better secret identity, and thus created
the alter ego of Prof. Roger Winkle. Winkle got a job as a professor at
Dartmoor University, located in the small northeastern town of Riverview.
He donned a mask as an added measure to conceal his new identity. Captain
Marvel's career lasted a number of years, and during that time he battled
many menaces, including the Destroyer, the only other survivor of his
doomed homeworld. Marvel's ultimate fate is unknown.

Weapons and Powers: Captain Marvel had the ability to split off some or
all of his body parts and mentally control them as they flew through the
air. He could fly at great speeds and over large distances using his
miraculous astro-boots. He was intelligent and clever due to his computer
brain, and his robot form made him quite durable during battle. He had
laser beam eyes, and could emit sonic waves, electronic force fields, and
electrical shocks. He needed no air to breathe, had a resistance to
electricity, could sense radioactivity, and could make analytical tests
using his senses of smell and taste. Later, Marvel even learned how to
make his street clothes invisible through mental commands, revealing his
uniform underneath.

Comments: Although he was a robot, Roger Winkle occasionally dated
Linda Knowles. However, he was greatly affected by magnetism, and shied
away from doctors, indicating that his robotic form contained a great deal
of metallic parts which could be readily detected. It is therefore
doubtful that his relationship with Miss Knowles ever progressed beyond
the dating stage.

Koppy McFadMember

posted March 02, 2002 12:57 AM

VIRAGO
(get her while she's hot. Or at least, before the body turns cold.)

Sole appearance: Green Arrow # 12, still on sale if you're lucky.

She was a female superhero operating out of Philadelphia. An apparent
rookie, she had about a dozen arrests to her credit, mostly muggings,
breaking and enterings, etc. While out on patrol on the rooftops of the
city, she was lured into a trap by a tape recorded cry for help. The
mysterious villain, Onomatopeia, wounded her with a rifle and then, as she
lay kneeling helpless and wounded on the ground, he put a pistol to her
head and shot her dead.

Instant obscurity.

Origins: unknown. Secret identity: unknown.

Powers: no apparent powers although she did the usual swinging on the
rooftops with a rope. If she had any powers, they didn't come in handy
against a guy with a gun.

Her name was suppose to be ironic because she was actually quite a
good-looking lady. I assume she was created mainly to show what a
dangerous fellow Onomatopeia is. Credit her to Kevin Smith.

Koppy McFadMember

posted March 02, 2002 05:43 AM

The Jihad

They were the first opponents as well as the opposite number of the
Suicide Squad. They were absolutely ruthless in killing and the Squad in
turn had little hesitation in killing them. The Jihad's acts of terrorism
were chillingly reminiscent of the September 11 atrocity and their battles
with the Suicide Squad set the tone for the series which remains one of
the most exciting and genuinely suspenseful runs in recent comic history.
I will list only brief thumbnail synopses about the Jihad to avoid
spoiling the fun of anyone who might be interested in buying back issues
of this excellent title.

Despite their Islamic name, the Jihad were not primarily religious.
They were terrorists for hire, created or recruited by the government of
Quarac (the DC universe version of Iraq), with a little help from the
Soviets. Many of their members were clearly not Muslims. But almost all of
them had some grudge with the United States or some U.S. ally. They usually
had names taken from various myths and legends, which conveyed their menace.

They made their debut in the first issue of the first run of SUICIDE SQUAD
by seemingly slaughtering an entire American airport full of people
and crashing Airforce One with the president on board. The Suicide Squad
heard that they were planning an attack on an American target and the team
struck first, sneaking into the Jihad's base in an abandoned Nazi fortress
in Quarac and going after each of the Jihad's members. But despite being
decimated by the Squad, the Jihad reassembled and went after the Squad,
this time in New York (including the World Trade Center.) Eventually, in
issue no. 26, the Suicide Squad's team leader Colonel Rick Flag sneaked
back into the old Nazi fortress and set off an old atom bomb supposedly
destroying the Jihad. Despite this, individual Jihad members survived
(while others were grotesquely resurrected) and continued to plague the
Squad both individually and as a group.

The Jihad members largely did not engage in banter so little was known
about their backgrounds. They killed people. That was what they were
suppose to do.

The key members were:

Rustam: the field leader. Possibly Iraqi or Iranian. He could conjure
up a flaming scimatar which could slice through anything. He had the drive
and intensity to match Flag's so the two were in a way, counterparts to
each other. We never learned his origin.

Manticore: a beast-like creature with great strength and speed, partial
invulnerability and who could fire his "claws" like bullets and launch
grenades from his scorpion tail. A product of genetic manipulation.

Jaculi: a young man from a desert tribe. He had bursts of super-speed
and hurled exploding javelins. He was later replaced by a female version
who appeared to be of East Asian origin. Again, no origin was given for
either of them.

Djinn: an electronic man, given solid form by a computer program. He
could "phase" through objects, scrambling electronics. He could also just
plan break someone's neck with his bare hands. He was later replaced by a
female version called Ifrit.

Ravan: an Indian belonging to the Thugee cult. A master of ritual
assasination. He had no powers but was extremely skilled in combat. He was
later recruited by the Suicide Squad.

Koschei, the deathless: an American scientist who was working to create
superbeings, first for the Russians, then the Jihad. After being mortally
wounded in the first Suicide Squad attack on Quarac, he discovered that
his body had been re-animated, using his own technology. By putting
implants on dead bodies, Koschei could control them to do his bidding and
his killing. It is later revealed that he had an old relationship to Flag.

Babd: an 10-year-old Irish girl who had mental powers. She
could drive people wild, even seizing control of Superman's mind briefly.

Agni: presumably another Indian. A human flame thrower who confronted
Captain Cold in New York.

Chimera: the Jihad's teleporter. It is soon revealed that she has other
loyalties.

Some of the Jihad members survived the end of the first run of the
SUICIDE SQUAD and since most of the members were artificially created, it
wouldn't be hard for new versions of the Jihad members to be spawned.
Whether any writer would want to use such terrorist characters in today's
charged atmosphere remains to be seen.

XeroMember

posted March 02, 2002 07:55 AM

Vig, the Bronze Tiger didn't kill Kathy Kane/Batwoman, the League of
Assassins did while he was hypnotized into kicking Batman's ass.

XeroMember

posted March 02, 2002 07:58 AM

All the Jihad members who weren't foreign nationals like Badb (who was
Irish), or Koschei (who was Russian) were Quaracis.

HellstoneMember

posted March 02, 2002 10:49 AM

This thread has never been so crowded and ALIVE before. That's great.

Vigilante - fyi, Tim Trench (a pre-Crisis friend of Wonder Woman
and a detective with his own back-up series in DETECTIVE COMICS) donned a
mask and joined Hero Hotline in an issue of Mark Millar's SWAMP THING.

Koppy McFad - the Jihad returned in OUTSIDERS with a new Djinn and a
new Manticore, among others. Not to mention the Dervish, who has later
shown up as a villainess in GREEN LANTERN, WONDER WOMAN, and elsewhere.

The VigilanteMember

posted March 02, 2002 11:57 AM

Originally posted by Hellstone:

This thread has never been so crowded and ALIVE before. That's great.
Vigilante - fyi, Tim Trench (a pre-Crisis friend of Wonder Woman and a detective
with his own back-up series in DETECTIVE COMICS) donned a mask and joined
Hero Hotline in an issue of Mark Millar's SWAMP THING.

This is what I love/hate about this thread...just when you think you've
got everything down, you find the most obscure characters have appeared
somewhere else

Tim Trench in a mask? Who's idea was that? Yow!

Off to milehigh.com again lol

--Rich

outpost2Member

posted March 02, 2002 12:29 PM

DIAL 'H' FOR HERO

Dial 'H' for HERO was always a fun and interesting concept. A teen-ager
would dial H-E-R-O on a magic H-Dial and transform himself or herself into
a randomly selected super-hero. The saga of the H-Dial began with Robby
Reed, way back in late 1965. Robby Reed lived in Littleville, Colorado
with his grandfather and their housekeeper Miss Millie. Robby was a
science prodigy, with a well-stocked lab in the rear of his house. One
day, he was out at Valley Ridge with some friends, when suddenly he fell
into a subterraean cavern. He discovered a telephone-like dial made of a
peculiar alloy, with a strange inscription on it. The dial was the
handiwork of extraterrestrials. Robby took the dial home and deciphered
the inscription. He learned that, by dialing H-E-R-O, he could become a
randomly chosen super-hero. He reverted to normal by dialing O-R-E-H.
Since he was billed as "The boy who can change into 1,000 super-heroes",
one must wonder if "one thousand" was a true limit. Robby disappeared for
a while, returned briefly in 1976, then faded into obscurity.

Fifteen years after the debut of the original feature, a new series
began. This one however did not mention Robby Reed. Christopher King had
just moved with his family to a New England town named Fairfax, into what
was rumored to be a haunted house. One day, he went exploring in the attic
with Victoria Grant, a fellow student at Hamilton Junior High School. The
two teens found an old chest which contained a wristwatch and a watch
pendant. They quickly learned that the faces concealed H-Dials. These
dials differed slightly with the original, Robby's had ten dial holes
while these had only four, but the concept was still the same. These new
dials however had a one hour time limit. If either dial was in use, the
other would glow to signal the wearer that he or she may be needed. They
later learned that the dials tapped into the vivid imagination of Nick
Stevens, a schoolmate of theirs, in order to generate their heroic
identities. In one of their last recorded adventures, Chris and Vicki
learned the origin of their dials. A few years back, Robby Reed was in one
of his super-hero identities, when he became trapped by a super-villain.
He dialed D-I-V-I-D-E, which transformed him into two entities: the good
Wizard and the evil Master. The Wizard created the two new H-Dials, while
the Master plagued the teens behind-the-scenes. The two entities
ultimately merged back together, and Robby, tired of the role of hero,
gave his dial to the kids' friend Nick Stevens.

Some time later, Chris and Vicki returned, but not in the way anyone
would have expected. The two had gone away to college and drifted apart.
Vicki had gotten in with a bad crowd and was corrupted by the cult known
as the Children of the Sun. Eventually, Vicki came after Chris, with the
desire to kill him. Chris went to his house looking for his dial, but
found it was missing. He ran from Fairfax, and finally contacted the New
Teen Titans for help. After an intense battle, during which it was learned
that Vicki was beginning to store residue H-Dial energy, Vicki disappeared.
Chris later learned that he too had absorbed H-Dial energy, and began to
change from hero to hero against his will. Later still, Chris was abducted
by the Wildebeest, an enemy of the Titans, but was soon after rescued.

Recently, the teen named Hero Cruz found Vicki's H-Dial among the
artifacts stolen by the Scavenger. After some help from his friends the
Ravers, Hero got to keep the dial. Soon after he acquired it however,
Vicki Grant came looking for it. After a nasty fight, Vicki was subdued
and returned to normal. Hero Cruz was last seen, along with Chris King, at
a party hosted by members of the Titans.

Although that brings the story of the dial "up-to-date", that's not
where the story ends! During a weird temporal mishap, the 30th century
Legion of Super-Heroes found themselves briefly in the 25th century. While
there, one of their friends, Lori Morning, was secretly given Robby Reed's
H-Dial by the Time Trapper, which he had stolen from its display at the
Space Museum. Lori currently possesses the dial in her new home in the
30th century. When last seen, the dial had been shorted out and no longer
appeared to be functional.

That *is* where the story ends! However, you can find a concise summary
of the history of those wonderful H-Dials at the following link:
www.infiniteearths.org/DialH .

The H-Dials :

The current whereabouts of H-Dial #1 is unknown. It was last seen in
the possession of Nick Stevens. (In the post-Zero Hour continuity, this
dial will end up in the Space Museum in the 25th century. When last seen,
the 25th century H-Dial was in the 30th century, where it was shorted out;
it is believed to be non-functional.)

The current whereabouts of H-Dial #2 is unknown. It was last seen in
the possession of a corrupted Vicki Grant and the Children of the Sun.

H-Dial #3 is currently in the possession of Hero Cruz.

The H-Dial users :

Robby Reed obtained H-Dial #1 in HOUSE OF MYSTERY #156; he gave the
dial to Nick Stevens in NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY #49.

The criminal "Daffy" Dagan used H-Dial #1 in HOUSE OF MYSTERY #158.

Robby Reed's girlfriend, Susan "Suzy" Shoemaker, used H-Dial #1 in
HOUSE OF MYSTERY #169 and SILVER AGE SECRET FILES #1.

Members of the Justice League of America used H-Dial #1 in SILVER AGE:
CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #1 and SILVER AGE 80-PAGE GIANT #1.

Chris King obtained H-Dial #2 in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES [2nd series]
#272; he internalized the power by HAWK & DOVE [3rd series] ANNUAL #1;
he was last seen fraternizing with the Titans in THE TITANS SECRET FILES #2.

Vicki Grant obtained H-Dial #3 in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES [2nd series]
#272; she was corrupted by the Children of the Sun by NEW TEEN TITANS [2nd
series] #45; she internalized the power by SUPERBOY & THE RAVERS #13;
she last appeared as a villainess in WONDER WOMAN [2nd series] #175.

Nick Stevens obtained H-Dial #1 in NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY #49; he
was last seen in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS #12.

Hero Cruz obtained H-Dial #3 in SUPERBOY & THE RAVERS #5; he was
last seen fraternizing with the Titans in THE TITANS SECRET FILES #2.

In the pre-Crisis reality, the criminal Nylor Truggs used the 30th
century H-Dial #2 in NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY #50; it was destroyed in
battle in the 20th century; this story was retconned out by the Crisis.

In the post-Zero Hour reality, Lori Morning obtained the 25th century
H-Dial #1 in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES [4th series] #91; she used it to
become a heroine in the 30th century; it became non-functional in LEGION
OF SUPER-HEROES [4th series] #125.

HellstoneMember

posted March 02, 2002 01:38 PM

I don't want to compete with you or anything, Outpost, but maybe we can
complement each other. (I hope you won't take offense.)

Here is my own, more "Who's Who"-styled summary of the H-Dials and
their wielders. It was originally written for Kim Jensen's "Definitive DC
Guide" and has been updated with info from the (quite) recent "Silver Age"
series and Vicki's cameo in "Wonder Woman".
( http://www.comicboards.com/dcguide/ )

/ola

The Unofficial "DIAL H FOR HERO" Biography
Created by Dave Wood and Jim Mooney

*First Appearance of the Hero Dial: House of Mystery #156 (January, 1966)

To this day, six prominent users of the H-Dials have been noted:

*Robby Reed (First appearance: House of Mystery #156, January 1966.)
*Christopher King (Group affiliation: Titans West, First appearance:
Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 2 #272, February 1981)
*Vicki Grant (Group affiliation: Children of the Sun, First appearance: Legion
of Super-Heroes Vol. 2 #272, February 1981)
*Nick Stevens (First appearance: New Adventures of Superboy #28, April 1982,
First using H-Dial: New Adventures of Superboy #49)
*Hero Cruz (Group affiliation: the Ravers, Titans L.A., First appearance:
Superboy and the Ravers #1, September 1996, First using H-Dial: Superboy and
the Ravers #5, January 1997.)
*Lori Morning (Group affiliation: Work Force, Legion of Super-Heroes
associate, First appearance: Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 4 #75, December 1995,
First using H-Dial: Legionnaires #51, August 1997.)

HISTORY:

The original H-Dial (a.k.a. the Hero Dial) is an enigmatic object whose
origin is clouded in mystery. Its first recorded whereabouts are from
about ten years ago, when an over-intelligent (some may call him "goofy")
teenager named Robby Reed was caught in the middle of a crime rampage in
his hometown of Littleville.

Pushed down a cliff at Valley Ridge, Robby miraculously survived and
found himself in a previously unexplored cavern. There, Robby discovered a
strange kind of dial inscribed with an unknown language (later identified
as the alien "Esperanto" called Interlac). Robby took it home, and somehow
- through a very good sense of language or maybe by some mental link to
the dial - Robby was able to decipher the ten alien characters into
equivalents of Earth's A, D, E, H, I, L, N, O, R, and V. For some reason,
he then felt the urge to dial the equivalent of the letters H-E-R-O.

"Sockamagee!! What's happening to me?" Robby cried to himself. Well,
what do you know. In an instant, the youngster had transformed into a
super-hero. And with the transformation came an immediate knowledge of his
powers and of his "hero name". As "Giant Boy", Robby fought the criminals
from the Thunderbolt organization he had encountered earlier.

To this day, it has not been revealed where this dial came from. Nor
has it been discovered how it could generate the identities of
superheroes, a phenomenon very typical for the modern western world. But
the fact remained - Robby Reed could become a new superhero every time he
dialed the four letters. He became "the boy who can change into 1,000
super-heroes". Still, the public thought that Robby was a new hero every
time he appeared. And in a sense - he was.

Cometeer, the Mole, Radar-Sonar Man, Hypno Man, Yankee Doodle Kid,
Chief Mighty Arrow, Astro - Man of Space... in these and numerous other
guises, Robby battled the Thunderbolt organization, the Cougar-Man, the
Terrible Toymaster, and many other menaces. When he instead dialed
O-R-E-H, he became Robby again. Sometimes the identities were very
peculiar - like the super-sweet King Kandy, the infant Mighty Moppet, or
the utterly ridiculous shapes of "Whoozis", "Whatzis", and "Howzis" (the
latter three made Robby think the dial was making fun of him). Now and
then, the Dial would also transform him into an existing superhero, like
Plastic Man, or one yet to be born, like Tommy Tomorrow.

Robby Reed had been orphaned at an early age. Robby's father had been a
detective with the Middleton Police Force (working together with John
Jones a.k.a. the Martian Manhunter) and a good one at that, naturally
making a lot of enemies. Mobsters killed both Robby's parents in an act of
revenge. Robby's maternal grandfather Eli moved the boy to Littleville,
where he raised him with the help of Eli and one Mrs. Millie. Eli
constantly refused to talk about Robby's parents, his daughter's death on
the irresponsible actions of his son-in-law. Growing up with an emptiness
inside him, Robby's secret life of super-heroism may have helped him to
fill that void.

Although Robby mostly had a very modest hero career in Littleville, he
once had a proud adventure together with the Justice League of America.
The criminal Injustice League had absorbed all the knowledge of the JLA's
powers, secrets, and battling techniques, and there was nothing the JLA
could do that the villains could not anticipate. The Leaguers' only rescue
was to borrow the H-Dial and become heroes never previously seen. As
Marionette (the Flash), Mod-Man (Atom), Miss Fortune (Black Canary), Doc
Fission (Superman), Minuteman (Batman), Terra Firma (Aquaman), Poltergeist
(Green Arrow), and Go-Go (Martian Manhunter) the JLA brutally outmatched
the Injustice League, and later their master, the alien conqueror
Agamemno. Afterwards, the JLA acknowledged Robby as their equal and he
thanked them for just once letting him play in the big leagues. There has
been references made to a second meeting between Robby and the JLA, but
this has not yet been recorded.

The dial was not totally risk-free, either. At one time, a guy named
Daffy Dagan accidentally dialed V-I-L-L-A-I-N and became the evil Daffy
the Great. At another, Robby became a whole bunch of villains himself
while using a temporarily rusty Dial. Still another time, when Robby had
become Giant-Boy again, he inhaled a toxic gas and only escaped death by
dialling himself back to Robby. This made him fear that he one day would
become Giant-Boy again, and subsequently die from the gas poisoning.
Luckily, this never happened.

As noted, the Dial could sometimes respond to other codes than H-E-R-O.
(Robby's friend Suzy, who dialed H-E-R-O-I-N-E at a couple of occasions,
is another example.) This would eventually prove fatal to Robby's
super-hero career. While confronting the villain called Shirkon of the
Many Eyes, Robby dialed D-I-V-I-D-E as a last resort. This had another
effect than the expected. He actually split himself into two entities -
One a being of pure goodness called the Wizard, the other an evil one
named the Master. While the Wizard defeated Shirkon, the Master dialed the
H-Dial into oblivion (H-I-D-E) and erased the past memories of Robby Reed.

Some years later, in the New England town of Fairfax, teenagers
Christopher King and Victoria Grant were summoned by a mysterious vocie to
the attic of the house into which the King family had just moved. There
they discovered two smaller dials, each with the letters H-E-R-O inscribed
upon its face. Unbeknownst to them both, these dials had actually been
created by the Wizard. Though their dials had only four letters where the
original had ten (the Wizard had seemingly learned from his mistakes as
Robby), and their transformations were limited to an hour's duration,
Chris' and Vicki's transformations were as colorful and bizarre as
Robby's. Eventually, they revealed their secret to their friend Nick
Stevens, a young artist whose super-hero designs, it was realized, were
the ones that Chris and Vicki invariably became. Possibly, this was due to
some mental link between Nick and the Dials. Among the many guises Chris
and Vicki took, were: Color Commando, Captain Electron, the Sixth Sensor,
Music Master, Ragnarok the Cosmic Viking, and the Martian Marshal (Chris),
Futura, the Grasshopper, Thumbelina, Puma the She-Cat, Ms. Muscle, and
Raggedy Doll (Vicki).

Chris and Vicki used their powers to battle super-villains like the
Bounty Hunter, the Evil Eight, the Silver Fog, and Grockk the Devil's Son,
many of whom were created by the evil Master. The Master sought the
H-Dials, though he never understood why. Years before, the Master had
apparently slain the Wizard, but in reality he had released the Wizard's
spirit to a higher plane of existence, where he could search oblivion for
his original Dial.

The final confrontation between Wizard and Master was witnessed by
Chris, Vicki, and Nick. The astral form of the Wizard had located the
original H-Dial and used it to dial himself and the Master back into one
being - Robby Reed. The grateful Robby then declared himself retired from
super-heroics. He let Chris and Vicki keep their dials and gave his own to Nick.

The subsequent activities of Robby Reed and Nick Stevens are unknown.

Chris and Vicki later went to college, not using the dials much by
then. Chris fell in love with a girl and stopped seeing Vicki. Sadly, the
homesick and unsure Vicki then became involved with a degenerated cult
called the Children of the Sun, who abused her sexually, introduced her to
drugs, and manipulated her through various means. During this time, Vicki
accidentally dialed O-R-E-H while in her human form, and transformed into
a mad, ravaging monster, running amuck. Chris encountered her with the
help from the New Titans. After a hard battle, during which it was
revealed that the Dial's power had started to internalize in her, Vicki
was defeated, but managed to escape without regaining her sanity.

Chris continued his studies while also becoming a recurring ally of the
Titans, once being among the Titans kidnapped by the Wildebeest Society.
Some time later, Chris started transforming uncontrollably into a new
super-hero every hour, remaining in that form until he had channelled out
a certain amount of energy. Somehow, the long-time exposure to the H-Dial
had made the power internalize in Chris, as it had in Vicki earlier. He
volunteered as a test subject at S.T.A.R. Labs in California, to learn
about his new powers.

Among the scientists examining him was ex-Titan Karen Beecher, alias
the Bumblebee. When the inactive Titans spin-off group called Titans West
re-formed during this time, Bumblebee dragged Chris along as a new member,
replacing the absent Beast Boy, Gnaark, and Golden Eagle. This group, with
Chris fighting side-by-side with Hawk, Dove, Lilith, Bumblebee, Herald,
and Flamebird, only lasted one mission. Since then, Chris King has
remained an infrequent hero, preferring to examine his powers at S.T.A.R.
Labs. (Though he recently appeared together with every single member of the
Titans when one of their comrades, Victor Stone, threatened the entire Earth.)

Hero Cruz of the young heroic Ravers discovered Vicki's H-Dial among a
number of artifacts stolen by the Scavenger (the second villain of that
name), a collector of weapons. Hero adopted the Dial as his own since the
Scavenger had stolen his former source of super-powers, the Achilles Vest.
Hero defeated the villain under the identity of "Human Justice". Shortly
afterwards, Vicki came back, looking for her Dial. As she touched it,
however, she lost her powers and was restored to normal, albeit puzzled
and disoriented, and unsure what to do with her life. Hero is currently
still using her H-Dial as his source of power, sometimes as a member of
the Titans L.A. He has recently learned to master it better, now being
able to choose his super-powers deliberately.

Quite recently, Vicki Grant appeared on the scene once again as part of
Circe's army of female super-villains. Her evil streak and internalized
powers seem to have resurfaced, but not much further is known about her
return. She now goes under the nom-de-crime "Dial V For Villain".

Robby Reed's original H-Dial is currently on display in Booster Gold's
theme restaurant "Planet Krypton", but it is known that it will eventually
be exhibited in the Space Museum of the 25th century. While some of the
30th century Legion of Super-Heroes visited that era, one of their
friends, the young Lori Morning, was persuaded by the mysterious Time
Trapper to steal the Dial. In the 30th century, she used the Dial to
become a number of super-heroines, hoping that the Legion would admit her
as a member. After helping defeat the Time Trapper in the guise of Galaxy
Girl, Lori found that the Dial was jammed, and that she couldn't use it
safely again. Since then, its powers have returned and she has used them
as a member of the Work Force. The Legionnaire Brainiac 5 has attempted to
examine the Dial, but whether he'll find out anything new about it remains
to be seen.

POWERS:

The three H-Dials enable their users to become a new super-hero with a
different super-power every time they dial the letters H-E-R-O. When the
users transform, they also get instant knowledge of their powers and their
"super-hero name". However, the dials can sometimes get faulty and
unreliable. They can also conduct other forms of transformations if the
user dials the correct words. Since the words they write are not
necessarily adaptable into Interlac, it seems as if the transformations
happen through some mental link between the Dial and its wielder. This
theory is augmented by the fact that many of the heroes that Chris and
Vicki were transformed into, were in fact products of the imagination of
cartoonist Nick Stevens.

The original H-Dial creates transformations that remain until the user
dials O-R-E-H. The transformations of the two newer Dials only last one
hour. Another difference is that Robby could assume the same super-hero identity
repeatedly, while none of his successors have become the same hero twice.

The H-Dial powers eventually internalized in Chris King and Vicki
Grant. Chris now transforms involuntarily into a new super-hero every
sixty minutes, and he has to use a certain amount of energy to get rid of
the guise. Vicki had similar experiences, but the current status of her
powers remains unknown.

--Profile written by Ola Hellsten

HellstoneMember

posted March 02, 2002 03:32 PM

Vigilante/Rich - Just wanted to tell you that Tim Trench as a Hero Hotline
member was, according to Mikishawm, seen in SWAMP THING (2nd series) #162
(1995). You can read about it in round two of this topic:
www.infiniteearths.org/dcu/msgboards/obscurechars2

/ola

outpost2Member

posted March 02, 2002 04:04 PM

Hellstone, great complement to my 'Dial H' entry. Don't mind in the least.

Vig, the Hero Hotline appearance in WONDER WOMAN that I mentioned
earlier was in issue #175 of the current series.

This thread has certainly been active the last couple of days. I think,
for the first time, we actually covered more than we added.
Let's see...

Vig, the Bronze Tiger didn't kill Kathy Kane Batwoman, the League of Assassins
did while he was hypnotized into kicking Batman's ass.

Y'know, it took me forever to figure out what you were talking about. I don't think
anyone ever got that far into my site before to notice that mistake. Thanks!
Does anyone have any idea what issue of WONDER WOMAN Hero Hotline appeared in? I'm not a
WW fan and the covers say more about cheesecake than what is inside them, and anyway, I'm
assuming it was a brief bit (much like their appearance in SUPERBOY #65).

--Rich

HellstoneMember

posted March 03, 2002 03:53 PM

Vig - don't search yourself blind for it if you don't like WW. It was
a VERY brief cameo in WONDER WOMAN #175. I liked that story, but there were
only two panels involving Hero Hotline. One with Diamondette lying
unconscious (seemingly knocked out by Lady Shiva). One with Mr. Muscle
standing beside Anarky and watching the women fight. (Short story: Circe and
an army of female super-villains kidnapped all male heroes [including Mr.
Muscle] and villains and transformed them magically into animals. Wonder Woman
collected an army of heroines [including Diamondette] to defeat them.)

/ola

The VigilanteMember

posted March 03, 2002 03:59 PM

Thanks a lot for the info, Hellstone. I mucho appreciate it. I remember
one time that a guy told me, which I was researching my Vigilante page,
that Greg Saunders was in STARMAN #74. I had the dangest time trying to
find that book, and when I finally did, I found that the "appearance" was
just a mention in one paragraph on the first page. ACK! At least it was
Starman, so the book was good anyway, but I was really hoping for a big
Vig/Brian Savage story

--Rich

XanadudeMember

posted March 04, 2002 02:12 PM

Couple more to add to the list:

The pre-Tula Aquagirls (they were mentioned in an earlier thread but
never discussed)

Cathy Perkins (from the I-Ching/Wonder Woman era, and star of the SM/BD
transvestite classic "Them") - did she ever show up after that run?

The Overlord/Underling and the Menagerie Man - the SUPER FRIENDS most
recurring foes, appearing about three times each and ripe for appearances
in the "real" DCU (also some minor SF villains like Greenback, Skyrocket,
Warhead, Green Thumb)

LOVE LOVE LOVE this thread, guys

dataloreMember

posted March 04, 2002 03:29 PM

Koppy, good Jihad bit (they also popped up later in SUICIDE SQUAD,
facing the Hayoth and Superman, Batman & Aquaman...during the dealing with the
death of the Atom), issues #59-62.

And, their appearances in OUTSIDERS #5-6 actually make their use in
these times MORE important (they felt they were the victims of U.S.
aggression, specifically, Cheshire dropping the A-bomb on Qurac...so, even
though their actions were terrible, they felt THEY were the heroes!)

Also, Koshchei the Deathless was another member of Rick Flag Jr.'s
original Suicide Squad, Jeff Bright. (Appeared in B&B #25-27, 37-39, as
well as during the flashback in the first appearance of the Forgotten Heroes,
ACTION COMICS #552, before we saw his apparent demise in SECRET ORIGINS #14,
and how he survived that in SUICIDE SQUAD (vol. 1) #50, as well as Dr. Hugh
Evans DEATH, and was one of the forces that helped CREATE the Jihad!)

And, for completests out there, Karin Grace survived, and died during
MILLENNIUM trying to betray the Suicide Squad to the Manhunters (in a
wonderful FOUR-WAY crossover from SUICIDE SQUAD #9, CAPTAIN ATOM #11,
SPECTRE #10 and DETECTIVE COMICS #582). And her and Rick's legacy was dealt
with in SUICIDE SQUAD #50.

outpost2Member

posted March 04, 2002 03:33 PM

Xanadude,

The two "pre-Tula" Aquagirls are already on the list (items #10 & 11). I too am
interested in knowing more about those one-shot heroines. Someone here MUST have those
issues!

I think I have the entire run of SUPER FRIENDS, so after I finish with
Adam Strange II, the Human Hurricane, and Pulsar Stargrave, maybe I'll go
through the entire series and briefly cover ALL the obscure villains from
that run.

Also, I wanted to let everyone know that I'm going through the five
archived Rounds, adding boldface and horizontal lines to make finding
specific entries easier. I'm also correcting typos as I go. So, if anyone
was planning on printing the archives out, please hold off for another
week or so. I'll let you know when they're done. Thanks.

HellstoneMember

posted March 04, 2002 05:37 PM

You da man!

/ola

Tenzel KimMember

posted March 05, 2002 10:05 AM

137.1 THE HECKLER

The Heckler was created by Keith Giffen and Tom and Mary Bierbaum and
first appeared in HECKLER #1.

Not much is known about the Heckler. If it hadn't been for the fact
that his secret identity was revealed halfway through his first issue, he
could have been just about anybody: Your best friend, or the guy next
door, or that fleeting shadow in the alley, or that guy who hangs around
your copy shop wearing bermuda shorts with dress shoes and black socks. He
could even have been you... but alas he is not. In fact he is just a plain
old ordinary (well maybe not that ordinary) coffee shop owner named Stu
Mosely.

Exactly why he chose to become the Heckler or even if it was of his own
choice is not known. Maybe it was just the ages old case of a bored bored
coffee shop owner looking for a little fun. However, part of the reason
why Stu Mosely became the Heckler might be found in the fact that he was
born in the thirteenth sign of the Zodiac... Hecklelarius the Heckler. To
be born under this unusual sign your day of birth have to fall between
Pisces and Aries on a leap year... or at least that's what the believers
of this sign claim.

The Heckler's secret identity is a closely guarded secret, that is
known by but a few including Legde, Mr. Dude and everybody who has read
about his adventures in "The Heckler" and those that have since been told
about it. Considering the sales of the book and the fast cancellation that
can't have been be more than about a dozen.

POWERS AND ABILITIES

Stu Mosely has an amazing ability to arrive at a destined location at
the right time. In other words, he is a very punctual guy and hates to be
late! As the Heckler he has an amazing ability to piss a lot of people off
(mainly bad guys though) by constantly mocking and making fun of his
opponents. On the other hand a lot of people (mainly his fans) find him
extremely funny. Heckler is also a master of disguices and once put on a
purple dress over his regular outfit and cunningly decieved the
intergalactic Cosmic Clown into believing that he was not the Heckler.

Tenzel KimMember

posted March 05, 2002 10:13 AM

Btw, just wanted to say that I had the Heckler profile written up a long
time ago so it wasn't a matter of trying to stal a profile from Vig.
Hopefully, he'll find someone else to do or improve upon my profile.

Tenz.

outpost2Member

posted March 05, 2002 11:24 PM

THE HUMAN HURRICANE

House Of Mystery #155 (Dec 1965)

Mitchell Anderson, science student, holds down one of Earth’s strangest -- and
most dangerous -- jobs. Each working day, Mitch volunteers for new experiments to
determine if Man can defy nature, and perform rescue work in fierce, raging
hurricanes. He buckles on a temperature control belt, dons a special environmental
suit, and is exposed to artificially generated hurricane conditions.

One fateful Saturday, as Mitch tests his temperature control belt, he gets
perspiration in his eyes. He gropes his way towards the small room where his
hurricane suit is kept, but accidentally enters the wrong doorway, that of the
electrical control room. Mitch hits one of the switches and, in a split-second
of terror, is bathed in burning heat rays. An alarm brings help, and Mitch is
rescued from harm. One of the scientists remarks that the heat rays could’ve
agitated Mitch’s molecules to an extent where it might’ve been fatal.

Shortly, as if nothing had happened, Mitch dons the hurricane suit and enters
the wind tunnel. The scientists increase the winds until they exceed 200 miles per
hour. Mitch is relieved that the special alloys, woven into his suit, protect him
from the debris that is breaking off of the deteriorating test houses. When he begins
to feel a chill, Mitch turns up the heat dial on his temperature control belt, but
something totally unexpected happens. With a great explosion, Mitch bursts out of
the hurricane suit, and begins flying through the air! An incredible force cracks
open the ceiling of the lab, hurling the helpless volunteer skywards. With his hands
flailing about wildly, Mitch accidentally hits the temperature control knob, and the
gale forces surrounding him begin to die down. He falls gently to the ground, landing
upright on his feet.

After Mitch returns to the lab, he is astounded to discover that the scientists
have examined his torn suit, and have concluded that the explosive force came from
within. They believe that, when Mitch turned up the heat, it agitated the molecules
in his body, which in turn agitated the molecules around him with hurricane force!
The scientists tell Mitch that he must sit tight until they can examine him. They
fear that if he started to get overheated in a crowded area, he could become a deadly
menace.

Just at that moment, a man rushes frantically into the room. He informs everyone
that, a few minutes earlier, a strange hurricane force had broken a weather balloon
loose from its moorings. A weather man is trapped aboard. Feeling responsible, Mitch
turns up the temperature knob on his belt, and flies up after the balloon. Mitch
maneuvers around the drifting craft until his hurricane forces drive it safely back
to land. Soon after, back at the lab, Mitch tells the scientists that, until he is
cured of his affliction, he can at least use his powers to do some good.

Mitch is as good as his word. When a spreading forest fire threatens nearby towns,
he uses his powers to snuff out the raging inferno. When a private yacht, caught in
a storm at sea, heads for crushing reefs, he generates enough lift to pick the boat
right up out of the water, carrying it to safety.

The next day, however, Mitch begins to worry that his wild molecules could be
killing him. One of the scientists from the lab tells Mitch that a specialist is
being driven over to evaluate him. Unfortunately, the car carrying the specialist
is forced to turn around when it is threatened by a devastating tornado. The driver
quickly finds a phone to call the lab, and tells the scientist that the tornado is
heading towards a local town. Mitch jumps to his feet and turns up the heat knob,
determined to stop the twister with his own hurricane power. He boldly enters the
tornado, experiencing forces he could hardly have imagined. Just as Mitch is about
to reach the limit of his tolerance, the twister is neutralized. But the hero’s
success is not without a cost. His powers suddenly disappear, and he falls to the
ground, landing unharmed on a large, thick haystack.

Later, after several tests are performed at the lab, Mitch is told that the
tornado has somehow knocked his molecules back into order. Although his unique powers
appear to be gone for good, Mitch is simply relieved to know that he has been given
a clean bill of health.

HellstoneMember

posted March 06, 2002 05:38 AM

The Human Hurricane sounds like a character that could be fun to see again.
Who created him?

Vigilante - I have just checked out your AWESOME site. How about posting
your "Burp the Twerp" information here?

/ola

The VigilanteMember

posted March 06, 2002 08:32 AM

Originally posted by Hellstone:

Vigilante - I have just checked out your AWESOME site. How about
posting your "Burp the Twerp" information here?

Actually, I already did...page one of this thread...right before the
profile on the B&B Pulsar.

Will get Hero Hotline done hopefully this weekend, along with some of
the others. I've been semi-incommunicado this week because I'm installing
a kitchen floor and several appliances to make the wife happy...and she
picked this week to catch the latest version of Captain Trips that is
circulating at her job, so she's layed up with that...ack.

Adding that to the fact that my male min-pin and my female min-pin/pug
have "discovered" each other this week...let's say it's making for one
hectic week LOL.

--Rich

The VigilanteMember

posted March 06, 2002 08:45 AM

THE RAGMAN

**Please note, this profile just considers the original Ragman,
as created by Joe Kubert and Robert Kanigher.

Rory Regan had survived the horrors of Viet Nam to return home to the
city and his father's junk and pawn shop, Rags 'N' Tatters, where they
made a modest living in the slums. Rory was still haunted by the memory of
the men he had killed in the war. Rory spent most of his time running the
shop, helping the people of the slums when they needed money to survive.

His father, Gerry Regan, met every night in rear lot behind the shop
for a drink with his three old friends, a former circus strongman named
Samson, a former boxer who had once been a heavyweight contender, and a
man who was an acrobat and once won a National Prize in the sport.

Life went on this way until Gerry and his friends found a mattress in
the back lot that was stuffed with over $2,000,000. The guys hide the
mattress amid the multitude of others in the lot, and plan to give the
money to Rory. Unfortunately, the man who brought the mattress in comes
back for it, gun in hand. Two other thugs, who are also looking for the
money, kill him. Gerry and his cronies refuse to talk, so the gunmen shoot
down the power lines above them, causing them to slowly be electrocuted.

Rory returns to the shop to find his father and his friends in agony.
He tells his father to give the men what they want, but Gerry refuses,
saying what they want belongs to Rory. Rory tries to pull his father free
from the wires with an old tire, but the gunmen shoot the tire out of his
hands, telling him to do it barehanded if he wants to be a hero. With all
four men holding hands, Rory takes his father's hand and the current
grounds through him. When Rory awoke, he found he was the only survivor.
Inside Rags 'N' Tatters, he found a note from his father directing him to
a present: A strange costume made of rags. It fit like it was made for
him, and Rory swore he would honor his father's memory by staying at the
shop, and by continuing his new career as the Tattered Tatterdemalion.
Rory also found that after his father's friends were killed, he seemed
to inherit the athletic abilities of all four men.

Later on, Ragman/Rory met up with Opal, an aspiring singer (who had a
definite thing for the Ragman) and Teddy, a young blind orphan, both of
whom he protected from the attacks of mobsters (Opal was being used as a
lure to draw Ragman out, and Teddy had "witnessed" a gangland killing).

In the final issue of the short-lived original series, a group of
mobsters met to figure out a way to get the millions in cash that had been
hidden in the back lot of Rags 'N' Tatters. The man hired to find it set
up shop in a pet store nearby and planned to eliminate Ragman first, using
Opal as a lure to bring him out into the open. Ragman gets her back, but
not before Opal takes bullets that were meant for Ragman (it is unsure if
this sequence was intended to show that Opal died, but since she did
appear in a later story, it's a mute point). Meanwhile, Bette and Teddy
come back to the shop and help an old homeless man who was sleeping in the
back lot. It was freezing, and the old man asked Teddy to help him find
something to start a fire. The blind boy happens to find the mattress
stuffed with the money and begins using it to build a fire. The hired thug
happens to pass the back lot and sees the money going up in flames and
tries to save the money by pulling it from the fire, but can't and severely
burns his hands. Ragman apprehends him and takes him away, never noticing the
burning money. Teddy's cat was the only actual witness to the scene.

The Ragman was a very local hero...he worked in the slums, only leaving
if it was necessary to gather information or right a wrong that had been
committed there. He received only a little press in the newspapers,
considerably less than The Batman (once it was determined that Ragman's
city was indeed the slums of Gotham City). The Batman did very willingly
give his respect to both Rory Regan (for his work helping the community
through Rags 'N' Tatters) and Ragman (who worked with him twice).

APPEARANCES:

Ragman (volume 1) #1-5

Batman Family #20

The Brave And The Bold #196

Crisis On Infinite Earths #5

Who's Who: The Definitive Directory Of The DC Universe #19

HellstoneMember

posted March 06, 2002 11:40 AM

Originally posted by Vigilante:

Actually, I already did...page one of this thread...right before the
profile on the B&B Pulsar.

This is the THIRD time I do this. Sorry.

/ola

outpost2Member

posted March 06, 2002 11:50 PM

Originally posted by Hellstone:

The Human Hurricane sounds like a character that could be fun to see
again. Who created him?

Although the story shows no credits, the Grand Comic Database lists the
artist as Bernard Bailey.

outpost2Member

posted March 06, 2002 11:52 PM

ADAM STRANGE II (part one of two)

From MYSTERY IN SPACE #94 (Sep 1964),
"The Riddle Of Two Solar Systems".

The time is the 22nd century, the place is Zulcan, a planet in the
Alpha Centauri star-system. Collins, the pilot of an Allied Solar
Enterprises spaceship, needs to kill some time while his cargo is
unloaded, so he hires a native guide named Ebba to help him explore the
region's remote jungles. They come across the wreckage of a spaceship
named "The Cosmos", which appears to have crashed many years earlier.
Collins discovers a ray gun and a strange gadget lying on the ground next
to the ship. He takes them back to his home base on Jupiter as souvenirs
of his trip to Zulcan.

At the Jupiter spaceport of Allied Solar Enterprises, Collins shows the
odd gadget to his two co-workers, but neither can identify it. One of the
men accidentally triggers the device, and a strange green gas begins to
billow out. The gases take form, solidifying into a horde of giant green
monsters. The men attempt to stop the creatures with their ray guns, but
the blasts have no effect.

Minutes later, news of the attack reaches the Allied Solar base on
Mars, where Rick Starr is stationed. Shortly afterward, Rick reaches his
secret base, located on one of the thousands of asteroids between Mars and
Jupiter, and dons the garb of the Space Ranger. Soon, Space Ranger, and
his sidekick Cryll, arrive on Jupiter where they find the green creatures
demolishing everything in their path. No sooner does the Ranger land, than
the menacing beasts begin to fade away. The same device that had brought
them into existence has apparently signaled their disappearance.

Space Ranger and Cryll soon locate Collins, who relates his tale. Space
Ranger examines the ray gun and finds an engraving on the handle. This
gun, he realizes, had once belonged to Adam Strange, a famous Earthman who
had protected the planet Rann some two centuries earlier. The Ranger
recalls that a diary of Adam Strange exists, and hopes that some clue
exists within its pages which can shed some light on the mysterious
device. Cryll wonders how Adam's ray gun ended up on Zulcan, the closest
planet to Rann.

Space Ranger and Cryll arrive at the York Museum on Earth, where a
special wing houses many of Adam Strange's possessions. With the help of
the museum curator, the diary is located. Space Ranger scans through its
pages, until he finds an entry which references the spaceship named "The
Cosmos". The diary relates the following events:

Adam arrives on Rann, via the remarkable zeta-beam, and is met by
his girlfriend, Alanna. As they head for the capital city, Adam notices a
strange yellow glow. Upon investigation, he spots the interplanetary
thief, Okri-Ro, using a gadget to control a gigantic sickle-like weapon.
When the criminal sees Adam, he drops the controlling device and flees. As
Adam tries to contain the weapon, it suddenly fades away. The hero finds
the device which he believes caused the weapon to disappear.

Adam and Alanna track Okri-Ro to his secret cave hideout, where they find
him testing out another gadget. He fires the device, shrinking the two
interlopers down to mere inches. The thief leaves them to be finished off
by cave weasels, and heads to Rann Museum to commit art and jewelry
thefts. While in the middle of his crime, the shrinking device runs out of
power, so Okri-Ro heads back to his cave for another gadget.

The thief arrives just as the next device begins to activate. He is furious
when Adam destroys it before it can complete its start-up sequence. Suddenly,
Adam and Alanna return to their normal size, and Okri-Ro is again forced
to flee. The thief attempts to escape in his spaceship, The Cosmos, but
Adam is too quick for him. As they fight aboard the craft, the engines are
accidentally fired and the ship begins to lift off. The two foes are
catapulted through the open hatch. The last two alien devices, and Adam's
ray gun, remain aboard the ship. Adam, Alanna, and Okri-Ro watch as The
Cosmos disappears into the vastness of space.

Adam is concerned because the last two devices are trapped inside the
runaway craft, and therefore pose a threat. Okri-Ro insists that the gadgets
are not his creations. He had found them while seeking a hideout in the caves,
and was only experimenting with the strange devices. All that remains of the
ancient relics is a strange plaque, containing an unknown alien language. The
origins and purpose of the devices would forever remain a mystery to
them.

After concluding the diary's entry, Space Ranger realizes that only one
of the two remaining devices were found by Collins. He fears that if the
final device is triggered, it could spell catastrophe for the planet
Zulcan. Space Ranger and Cryll soon arrive on Zulcan and contact the
authorities. They examine the crash site, and Space Ranger finds fresh
footprints. The Ranger tells the local authorities to try and find out who
belongs to the footprints, while he and Cryll travel to Rann in the hopes
of finding the alien plaque which had accompanied the five devices. The
hero hopes that the alien language, which was unknown in Adam Strange's
time, might be one of the languages of the 22nd century's known galactic
races. Since history records show that Adam left Earth for good, the Ranger
believes that he may have married Alanna and had children. He is guessing that
one of Adam's descendants might know the whereabouts of the plaque.

Space Ranger and Cryll travel to neighboring Rann, and after inquiries
are made, they locate one of Adam's descendants at the Rann Museum. He too
is named Adam Strange, after his famous ancestor. After Space Ranger
explains the situation, Adam II says there is indeed a strange plaque
among his ancestor's possessions. The Ranger looks at the plaque, but does
not recognize the language. Adam II says that experts have tried to
decipher it many times, without success. Cryll suddenly recalls the
Venusian wizard of languages, Mento-Gen, and uses his amazing powers to
transform into a perfect duplicate of the brilliant alien. As he had
hoped, with Mento-Gen's knowledge, Cryll easily translates the plaque.

The plaque tells of an alien expedition to Rann, thousands of years
ago, from a world in another galaxy. The aliens had chosen an unpopulated
area of prehistoric Rann to test a new, fearsome weapon. They first
launched the weapon from their craft into space, where it was to await a
certain signal. Then a landing party went to the planet's surface with
devices capable of creating the exact conditions under which their enemies
lived. Once the first device was activated, they were to depart to safety
and observe the effects of the test. The devices were to activate in sequence
automatically. The signal to attract the alien test weapon was the fifth and
final device, which would saturate the area with a special dye.

Space Ranger surmises that something must have happened to the alien
party before they could activate the first device. When the original Adam
Strange destroyed the third device, it stopped the chain reaction, but
Collins started up the process again when he triggered the fourth device.
The stage is now set for the actual activation of the deadly mystery
weapon. The Ranger knows that they must hurry back to Zulcan and learn the
fate of the fifth device before it's too late. Adam II asks to come along,
so that he might complete the case that his ancestor started. He quickly
grabs the uniform of the original Adam Strange from its museum case, and
the trio head to Zulcan.

The heroes contact the authorities on Zulcan once again, and learn that
a Zulcanite has come forward stating that a friend found the final device
near the wreckage and had taken it home. The trio rush to the man's home,
but arrive moments too late. The device is accidentally triggered,
shooting it's missile-attracting spray into the air. The heroes are able
to trap the deadly liquid in an inverted dome, and begin to haul it away
from inhabited areas. They see the deadly weapon hurtling towards their
cargo, and race deep into the jungle. They barely have enough time to dump
the liquid and fly to safety, when suddenly the weapon opens up and fires
on the special dye. The heroes view the destruction the weapon causes,
remarking that it was powerful enough to have leveled the entire city.
Adam Strange II is proud to have helped solve the mystery that his
ancestor first uncovered, and is thinking of carrying on the family
tradition as the new protector of Rann!

outpost2Member

posted March 07, 2002 11:43 PM

ADAM STRANGE II (part two of two)
From MYSTERY IN SPACE #98 (Mar 1965),
"The Wizard Of The Cosmos" and
"The Return Of Yarrok Of Zulkan".

Adam Strange is transported via a zeta-beam to the planet Rann, where
he is greeted by Alanna. They have plans to meet with Yarrok of the planet
Zulkan, a man who has quite a reputation for being eccentric. Yarrok has
explored every portion of Zulkan, Rann's sister planet, and Adam hopes to
learn some of his secrets in order to improve on his own archeological
methods. When the couple reach Zulkan, they are warned by the authorities
that Yarrok doesn't like visitors. When they arrive at his lab, Yarrok
attacks them, first with fire-spewing plants, then with an explosive
liquid. Adam is angry that Yarrok is playing such dangerous games, but
Yarrok explains that he is trying to find a way to advance his own
backward planet, a condition that he blames on Rann. He is determined to
turn Zulkan into an industrial giant, and he boasts that the entire Alpha
Centauri star-system with soon heed the name of Yarrok of Zulkan, Wizard
of the Cosmos!

Two days later, a huge mirage-like image of Yarrok appears over Ranagar
City. Adam and Alanna watch as the image demands that Rann pay a tribute
to the planet Zulkan. It states that it will give a demonstration of what
will happen to the citizens of Rann if they do not comply. Beams shoot out
of the image's eyes, striking a chemical plant. As the plant begins to
rise from its foundation, Adam goes into action. He locates a large
mirror, then causes the beams to reflect back at its source. The only
thing Yarrok succeeds in stealing is his own mirage. Adam tells Alanna
that they must contact Zulkan's authorities and have Yarrok arrested.
However, when they make the call, they learn that Yarrok's entire lab has
disappeared. Adam suspects that the lab has been moved to Rann, so that
Yarrok can launch his plunder campaign more easily.

Within the hour, Yarrok strikes again. This time he has mesmerized a
small village into bringing him their money and jewels. Adam uses a
canister of oxygen to blow away the flake-like particles that are causing
the hypnotic effect. Yarrok appears and throws a vial at Adam, which will
cause him to expand until his molecules dissipate. The criminal is
surprised that Adam disappears so quickly, unaware that Adam has actually
been transported back to Earth. Thankfully, the transport has caused his
body to return to normal, however he must now wait another 48 hours until
the next zeta-beam arrives.

Two days later, an anxious Adam Strange arrives back on Rann, where he
is once again met by Alanna. She tells Adam that Yarrok has now come out
into the open, and has demanded that Ranagar City pay him another tribute.
He has used one of his strange forces to create a mist which has cut off
Ranagar from the planet's two suns. The city will soon freeze if they do
not comply. Adam comes up with a plan. As he flies off, he tells Alanna to
meet him in Ranagar. Shortly, Adam confronts Yarrok and demands that he
lead them to his secret lab, where he will dissolve the threatening mist.
Remarkably, Yarrok obeys Adam's commands. The hero explains that he has
used Yarrok's own mesmerizing flakes against him.

Just as Yarrok, Adam, and Alanna arrive at the hidden cavern
laboratory, the criminal begins to regain his senses. Before Yarrok can
attack, Adam hits him with a stun blast. The villain staggers backwards
and throws a large lever, stating that no one will ever learn his cosmic
secrets. Adam and Alanna clear the cavern exit just as the lab explodes.
Adam reflects that it is ironic that Yarrok has perished by his own bizarre
powers. He states that they've seen the last of the Wizard of the Cosmos.

Fast-forward 200 years.

Space Ranger is speaking on Mars, when he receives a message from
Jupiter requesting his help. The Jovian report claims that a wheat field
has gone on a growth rampage. When Space Ranger, and his assistant Cryll,
arrive at the small farm town, they can't believe their eyes. Gigantic
wheat stalks advance at incredible speed, with falling kernels of grain
taking root to grow another line of crops instantly. Soon the entire
village will be destroyed! One of the farmers points to a costumed
stranger, claiming it was he that started the disaster. The Ranger
approaches the man in order to learn how to neutralize the threat. The
stranger introduces himself as Yarrok of Zulkan, then tosses a vial at the
Space Ranger's feet. The Ranger is suddenly enveloped in a violent
tornado. Yarrok states that his tests in the Sol star-system are complete,
and that he, the Wizard of the Cosmos, must return home to carry out his
destiny. Once he does that, he will return.

Space Ranger frees himself from the force of the tornado, but Yarrok is
gone. However, while the Ranger was preoccupied, Cryll successfully
stopped the wheat threat by transforming into an acid-squirting Plutonian
Beetle. The duo know they must try to warn the people of Alpha Centauri,
and capture the criminal before he returns to the Sol system. Space Ranger
has heard reports that Adam Strange II, descendant of the original hero of
Rann, has taken the role of that planet's protector, as he had contemplated
doing at the end of their last encounter. They will travel to Rann and seek
his aid.

When the Space Ranger and Cryll arrive in Ranagar City, they are
greeted by their ally. The Ranger asks Adam if he has ever heard of
Yarrok, Wizard of the Cosmos. Adam immediately recognizes him as one of
his ancestor's most incredible foes. After viewing a film tape record,
Space Ranger is shocked that Yarrok supposedly died 200 years earlier.
Adam wonders how Yarrok could have survived the explosion, and lived for
two more centuries.

Elsewhere, in a remote area of Zulkan, the new Yarrok studies the notes
of his ancestor, the original Wizard of the Cosmos. Yarrok II remarks that
his ancestor did not have the proper ingredients to activate all the rare
minerals and properties that he had discovered. However, the new Yarrok
has used the future era's technology to travel to other star-systems, such
as Sol, to find them. He had recently discovered the original Yarrok's secrets
in the cellar of their family home on Zulkan. He is determined to destroy the
descendant of his ancestor's enemy, then go on to rule the universe!

That night, as Rann's double suns set, a huge image of Yarrok appears
in the skies above Ranagar City. The image claims the tribute denied his
ancestors, and gives an example of his power. As the image fades away, the
city's entire electrical system begins to run rampant, sending electrical
bolts in all directions. When the Space Ranger, Cryll, and Adam attempt to
shut down the city's main power line, they are attacked by Yarrok. The
villain tosses a vial at the feet of the Ranger and Adam, which saturates
them with a charged liquid. Suddenly, the two glowing heroes begin
attacking one another. Cryll transforms into a Plutonian Erg-Eater, a
creature which feeds on energy. He is able to siphon off the energy,
returning his friends to normal, but not before Yarrok escapes.

The next morning, pets and animals throughout Ranagar go on a wild
rampage. The trio hurry to the Ranagar Zoo, fearful that many dangerous
beasts might have escaped. When they arrive, they are relieved to discover
that the zoo guards have contained the problem. Adam notes, however, that
one of the beasts is remarkably calm -- the Asteroid Arko. He surmises that
the Arko is unaffected because it is totally deaf. Yarrok must be using a high
frequency sound to disturb the animals. The Space Ranger gets an idea on how
to use the sound against their enemy. The Ranger tells Cryll to aid Adam in
tracking the sound to its source, while he implements his plan.

Shortly, Adam and Cryll locate Yarrok in the Rainbow Hills. Cryll, who
has transformed into a Venusian Round-Winger, distracts Yarrok, while Adam
destroys the sound transmitter. Yarrok recovers and disables Cryll with
one of his cosmic vials. He then turns his attention to his other foe.
Just as Yarrok is about to dispose of Adam, Space Ranger arrives with a
giant tuning fork. He blasts the fork , which begins to send out intense
vibrations. As the Ranger had hoped, the vibrations shatter the villain's
remaining vials. The contents of the vials have a fantastic effect on
Yarrok, who begins to expand into a gaseous form. Luckily, Adam is able to
revert Yarrok back to normal by freezing the ingredients that have
saturated his body.

As the Space Ranger and Adam Strange II take their enemy into custody,
Yarrok quietly contemplates his revenge. He realizes that, while he is
currently in their hands, his secret laboratory on Zulkan is not. Some day
he will escape, and carry on again as Wizard of the Cosmos!

outpost2Member

posted March 07, 2002 11:44 PM

ADAM STRANGE II (post-script)

A statue of Space Ranger and Adam Strange II, depicted in HOURMAN #11
(Feb 2000), establishes that the events of MYSTERY IN SPACE #94 and 98 are
still part of DCU continuity.

Also, I did not make a typo when referencing Rann's sister planet. It
was indeed spelled "Zulcan" in issue #94 and "Zulkan" in #98.

After her roommates at Stanhope College get computer dates, Linda
"Supergirl" Danvers bemoans her fate - "They're perfectly happy with the
guys the computer chose for them! But even with fellows I like, I still
have the uncomfortable realization that I'm SUPER... and they're NOT! No
boy on Earth could meet my standards..."

This gives Supergirl an idea. Superman keeps records on thousands of
champions on other worlds, so she flies to the Fortress of Solitude and
uses his computer for "Operation Super-Match." Superman arrives and begins
to protest just as the computer selects a super-being named Volar (an anagram
for Valor, perhaps?), who fights crime on the planet Torma. "What a handsome
hunk of hero!" the Maid of Might cheers.

Superman reminds Supergirl that his computer is only a machine and that
appearances can be deceiving, but she refuses to listen and goes to Torma
to meet Volar.

The two become friends and fight crime together. Supergirl realizes she
"could really go for Volar." But she senses something strange about the Magna
Marvel and is confused when he shows no romantic interest in her. Meanwhile,
Volar's father frets that "X-Day" is approaching.

Supergirl is also surprised to learn that she is a pariah on Torma. Troman
men consider all women inferior thanks to the teachings of the Visitor, a
philosopher who visited the planet long ago.

The Visitor (who was apparently stood up for the junior-high
Harvest Moon Dance) traveled space, spreading the message that women were
worthless and weak and backing it up with a "suppressor-beam," an energy
beam that brainwashed women into submission. Over the following centuries,
each generation was indoctrinated into believing the Visitor's teachings.

After overhearing Volar and his father discussing X-Day, Supergirl
confronts him. Volar tries to send her away, but, believing him to be
terminally ill, she refuses. When X-Day arrives, Supergirl learns Volar's
shocking secret and flees Torma thinking, "I'm heading back to Earth -- where
I BELONG! I found out VOLAR was no HIT... but a REAL MISS!"

A miss, indeed. Volar is actually a woman masquerading as a male
to avoid sexual discrimination. Danon had created a "living mask" to hid
his daughter's true gender. On X-Day, however, he ran out of the last of
the "vitalizing serum" that made the mask so life-like and which made
Volar's voice sound deeper.

"You saw how our men treated SUPERGIRL! The same thing will happen to you
if TORMA finds out its mighty hero is a GIRL!" Danon says. "...You must give
up your career!"

"No, dad!" Volar responds. "SUPERGIRL never let those sneers and jeers stop
her... and I won't either! I'll teach people that a girl can be as good as ANY
man... and BETTER than SOME!" Volar is last seen on patrol as a woman.

Curiously, on the cover (by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson) Volar bears
a passing resemblance to Pete Ross. He has redish-blonde (orange) hair and
wears a brown top and boots, a white utility belt, black trunks with
yellow highlights and green tights. Inside, he has brown hair and wears a
baggy purple top with white sleeves, a yellow utility belt, black trunks,
white tights and purple boots and cape. About the only things the two
versions of Volar have in common are their "mod" sideburns. After Volar
"outs" herself, she sports a mostly black uniform with purple trunks and
boots and a large white "V" on her torso.

Koppy McFadMember

posted March 09, 2002 05:29 AM

Thanks for the compliments on the Jihad entry although I think I spelled
some of the names wrong. I knew that a few surviving Jihad members showed
up in the latter issues of SUICIDE SQUAD, but by then the team was no
longer as deadly as before. I wasn't aware they appeared in THE OUTSIDERS.
I see they left an impression stronger than even I thought.

Still, I am doubtful that they can be revived now, at
least in the highly-lethal way they were depicted in SUICIDE SQUAD. A
Jihad that doesn't really kill anybody wouldn't have the same impact. On
the other hand, if they are presented like they were in Ostrander's run,
then then DC could be accused of: 1. Capitalizing on a national tragedy
while the nation's wounds are still fresh. 2. Stirring hatred against
Islamic and/or Arabic characters. And let's face it: with a name like
"Jihad", they would be seen as Islamic/Arabic characters even if their
membership were made up of South African mercenaries.

On another note: I was going over the archives and I noticed that
Pow-Wow Smith was actually a rather major character in his time. Would
that make him among the first non-white heroes of a mainstream comic
feature (not a partner or a sidekick but a genuine hero!)? The whole
concept about the character (an Indian who becomes a town sheriff?!) seems
so far ahead of its time. I have never read a single Pow-Wow Smith story,
aside from that Detective Comics tale with Slam Bradley but he doesn't
seem to be a "Tonto" type character or a stereotype who says "Ugh" or
"How". Even more surprisingly, that the comics of the time would even
acknowledge the sad fact tht until fairly recently, American Indians were
not considered citizens.

He may be obscure now, but Pow-Wow Smith sounds like a real
trailblazer.

now on to...

FUNNY FACE

His first appearance was in a 1942 Superman story.

Powers: He had a strange ray which could transform comic strip
characters into real people. He later said that the ray was a result of
his "dimensional experimentation" so we can use some pseudo-scientific
explanation to say that the ray drew actual people from the hypertime
realities where they really existed.

Although dressed rather conventionally (in a business suit that
virtually all adult males wore in those early Superman stories),
Funny-Face used a spherical mask with a cartoon face that looked like a
goofy, buck-toothed version of the Smiley-face symbol, on it. Of course,
this being comics, the mask changed expressions with the wearer.

In the story, Funny Face uses the ray to bring to life the villains of
various Daily Planet comic strips. Among the baddies he animates are a
club-wielding ogre called "Torgo" from a Prince Valiant-type strip, a
tommy-gun toting gangster called "Machine-Gun Mike" from a Dick Tracy-like
serial, a dwarfish alien called "Goola" from a sci-fi strip entitled
"Streak Dugan" (guess where that one came from), a cowboy badman called
"Black Raider" from the Lone Ranger clone and lastly, a Snidely Whiplash-
type vaudville villain called "the Viper" from a slapstick strip called
"Happy Daze."

Not only can he bring these villains to life but Funny-Face can enlarge
them to giant size and even make them immaterial at will, so not even
Superman can hurt them. In addition, Funny Face can project multiple giant
images of his own cartoon face in the sky to obstruct the man of steel.

The villains rob banks and museums at Funny Face's bidding, easily
escaping Superman who can't even touch them. Somewhere along the line,
Lois gets held hostage by Funny Face. (What a plot twist.) But this time,
Lois makes up for it by first tipping Superman off to the baddie's hideout
and then using Funny Face's ray to bring the heroes of the Daily Planet
comic strips to life so they can rout their respective villains.

At the end, Superman rips off Funny Face's mask to reveal... someone
totally unfamiliar. The guy, who never reveals his real name, explains
that he wanted to create a world famous comic strip but no one would buy
his creations. So he turned to science and devised this ray to bring comic
characters to the real world.

I can sympathize with him. When DC cancelled its submissions policy, I
was also tempted to unleash giant monsters on society to get revenge.

This story may seem like a minor trifle yet it stands out as possibly
one of the first times the characters from other comics "guest-starred by
proxy" in a comic book from another company, ala "Squadron Supreme".

The story was so memorable that years later, just before ALL-STAR
SQUADRON wound down, Roy Thomas virtually did a remake, this time with the
All-Stars standing in for the Earth-2 Superman who was no longer in
continuity.

Yet the odd thing is, there is nothing in the original story which
violates the post-Crisis continuity of Superman. Once you get past the
absurdity of a failed comic strip writer bringing fictional characters to
life, it fits in with the conventions laid down by John Byrne, et al.

In the original story, Superman smashes the ray. In ALL-STAR SQUADRON, the
villain destroys his own invention but Funny Face is still out there and
could theoretically come up with another dimensional ray. He could always
use it on a copy of "the Uncanny Mutates" or "the Avenging Ultimates"
etc....

IBISMember

posted March 09, 2002 06:21 AM

How about the two Jediah Rikanes?

outpost2Member

posted March 10, 2002 05:38 PM

Just finished revamping the Obscure Characters archives. As a reminder,
they can be found at
www.infiniteearths.org/dcu/msgboards . While
reading through Rounds I - V, I discovered a few missing entries from the
original list, so I've noted them below. Here's the latest update:

I'll be back shortly with a complete list of remaining entries. If you
want to add anyone, add 'em now!

outpost2Member

posted March 10, 2002 11:56 PM

PULSAR STARGRAVE / MR. STARR

Prologue: Colu is one of the rim worlds, located about 20,000 light
years from Earth, out on the approach to the Magellanic Clouds. It is the
fourth planet from its sun and its surface is almost exactly 50% land-50%
sea. The planet has six moons. The Coluans are not only the most advanced
humanoid intellects known but also the longest living mortals in the
galaxy, with average life-spans of 600 years. In the mid 20th century (as
measured by Earth standards), the planet was taken over by a world-wide
computer network which, because of their malevolent nature, became known
as the Computer Tyrants of Colu. By the late 20th century, the planet's
people were like helpless children, brainwashed for obedience at birth.
One exception was the evil scientist Vril Dox, who served the Tyrants
willingly. Vril Dox had a son of the same name who was accelerated to
adulthood, however he did not share the views of his traitorous father.
Eventually, the Tyrants grew nervous and ridded themselves of the elder
Vril Dox. The mind of the elder Dox survived and took over a Terran's
body, becoming the villain known as Brainiac. The younger Dox was handed
over to an Alien Alliance.

L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 #1 (Feb 1989), "Homecoming"
Vril Dox II, a Durlan, Lyrissa Mallor, Garryn Bek, Strata, and Stealth
escape from the Alien Alliance in a cargo trawler. The six are to return
home, beginning with Vril Dox of Colu. When the ship reaches Coluan orbit,
it is attacked by a missile from the planet's surface. Garryn Bek pilots the
ship to the surface, barely avoiding destruction. The six leave the ship for
cover, moments before it is finally destroyed. The group realize that Dox set
them up. They are captured by Coluan forces. In prison, Lyrissa tells the
others that although the planet is a seemingly normal world, it is
actually ruled by the Computer Tyrants of Colu. Dox admits shamefully that
he is the son of the greatest traitor that Colu has ever known. He had
helped the five others escape in the trawler during a battle between the
inmates and jailers, and intentionally brought them to Colu to help free
it from the Tyrants. Bek notices that the Durlan is missing. The Durlan is
discovered attempting to enter the Command Center. He destroys the
attacking drones and causes an explosion which frees the others from their
prisons. The Computer Tyrants decide that the best course of action is to
destroy the entire building and all inside!

L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 #2 (Mar 1989), "So You Want To Be A Despot?"
The building containing Dox and his band is destroyed, killing over 300
people. However, the six heroes survive underground. When sterilization
units enter the tunnels, Lyrissa uses her shadow powers, which alerts the
Tyrants. The decision is made that the only choice is to head to the
Central Core. The six make it to the restricted zone and succeed in
shutting the Tyrants down.

L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 #3 (Apr 1989), "How To Win Friends and Influence People!"
Dox and his group make it to the planet's surface and find the
city in flames! Above Colu, the collective electronic intelligence of the
Computer Tyrants inhabit a synthetic humanoid form; it then heads towards
the planet. As Dox sets a bomb in the Central Core, the humanoid attacks.
Dox quickly recognizes it as the Computer Tyrants. The bomb detonates,
trapping the Tyrants in the humanoid form. Blind with fury, the humanoid
takes off into space.

L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 #7 (Aug 1989), "The Nature of the Beast"
The humanoid vessel housing the Computer Tyrants of Colu arrives on the planet
Talok VIII.

L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 #8 (Sep 1989), "Don't Look Back"
Vril Dox and his team free the planet Cairn, and begin building the foundation
of an interstellar police force that will later be called L.E.G.I.O.N.. On
Talok VIII, the Computer Tyrants, now calling themselves Mr. Starr, have
offered to help build a new government.

L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 #9 (Nov 1989), "Second Chances"
One month has passed. Starr is told of minimal progress, but learns of the
importance of Lyrissa Mallor, the planetary champion of Talok VIII, and of her
daughter, Lydea.

L.E.G.I.O.N. '90 #11 (Jan 1990), "Power Play"
Starr learns how to convert the energy of Talok VIII's sun into raw power.
Khund ships, evading the Dominion, enter orbit around Talok VIII. Starr
destroys the ship to make it look as if he saved the planet.

L.E.G.I.O.N. '90 #20 (Oct 1990), "Girl Trouble"
Vril Dox and some L.E.G.I.O.N. officers find Lyrissa Mallor, Strata, Phase,
Telepath, and a Talokian stranger unconscious. Later, Telepath explains that
they had come to Lyrissa's aide and fought the stranger. Dox uses Telepath to
probe the stranger's mind and discovers not only that she is Lyrissa's
daughter, but also that she was sent by the Computer Tyrants of Colu! After
informing the Beks of Lyrissa's death, he sends them to Talok VIII to battle
the Computer Tyrants. Dox sends Lady Quark to follow them.

L.E.G.I.O.N. '90 #22 (Dec 1990), "Starrdoom"
The L.E.G.I.O.N.naires learn of the death of Lyrissa Mallor. After discovering
that her killer is Lydea Mallor, Lyrissa's daughter, and that she was sent by
the Computer Tyrants, the core team heads to Talok VIII. They arrive in time
to aid the Beks and Lady Quark against Starr. Dox shoves an electronic
disrupter into Starr's neck and, after he is blasted by the heroes, he
explodes.

It is at this point that things get a little confusing. The previous
issues are valid for the post-Crisis and post-Zero Hour realities, but not
for the pre-Crisis reality. The following issues are valid for the
pre-Crisis and post-Crisis (Pocket Universe) realities, but not the
post-Zero Hour reality. All clear? Good. Now we move forward approximately
one thousand years.

SUPERBOY [1st series] #223 (Jan 1977), "We Can't Escape the Trap In Time!"
Pulsar Stargrave, and his two cronies, Quicksand and Holdur,
watch a battle between the Legion of Super-Heroes and the Time Trapper on
their viewscreen. Stargrave comments that he could crush both the Legion
and the Time Trapper.

SUPERBOY [1st series] #224 (Feb 1977), "When Stargrave Strikes!"
Part one of three. The Legionnaires arrive on Planetoid P88-01, in an
attempt to avert an anti-matter disaster. They are attacked by Quicksand
and Holdur, who keep the Legionnaires occupied until their master,
Pulsar Stargrave, can arrive. Stargrave appears and uses his
tremendous power to fuse the torn fabric of space. Stargrave then
teleports everyone to his lair. He imprisons them, then explains that it
was he who created the menace. Stargrave needed to lure them to the
planetoid because he needs allies against the one being that is stronger
than even he. Stargrave makes it clear that he is not asking them, but
instead has chosen them. Before Stargrave can reveal the identity of his
enemy, the Legionnaires break free and attack. During the battle,
Stargrave shows a wide array of powers, including super-strength,
energy-blasts, mind-reading, and more. After defeating the Legionnaires,
Stargrave tells Brainiac 5 alone the origins of his powers.

He was once a mortal Coluan ... a scientist investigating an unusual
stellar phenomenon in his one-man laboratory probe. When his life support
system failed, he took an emergency drug which induced a state of
suspended animation, hoping that someone would find his disabled probe and
rescue him. He was finally discovered by an unknown race who
misinterpreted his coma. Believing he was dead, the aliens followed their
customs and teleported his seemingly lifeless body into the heart of the
nearest star ... just as that star reached its super-nova stage! His body
was destroyed, but in that critical nanosecond his mind somehow fused with
the exploding plasma. The super-nova collapsed into a pulsar. Soon, he
mastered his own energies and reincarnated himself into his current form.

Brainiac 5 recognizes Pulsar Stargrave as his father, who disappeared
15 years earlier. He asks Stargrave why, with all his power, he needs the
Legion. Stargrave explains. Later, Brainiac 5 briefs his teammates. He
tells them that Stargrave wants total control of the universe, and that
Brainy is convinced they should help him. They must ally themselves with
Stargrave in order to stop an even greater evil from overwhelming the
cosmos. When they learn that his enemy is Mordru the Merciless, the
Legionnaires reluctantly agree, but make it clear that once that threat is
defeated, they will move to stop Stargrave's conquest. Soon afterward,
Brainiac 5 meets with Stargrave. Brainy states that he will leave
immediately for Zerox, where he will begin their war against Mordru.
Superboy overhears as Brainiac 5 refers to Stargrave as his father.

SUPERBOY [1st series] #226 (Apr 1977), story two: "Five Against One"
Part two of three. Brainiac 5 arrives on Zerox, the Sorcerors' World, home of
Mordru the Merciless. Pulsar Stargrave has sent him on a mission to find
Mordru's mystic Star Stone. Brainiac 5 breaks into Mordru's treasure house
and, after battling his way past a number of mystical barriers, locates the
stone. The Star Stone tells Brainiac 5 that Stargrave is not his father, but
rather the original Brainiac android, catapulted into the 30th century.
Furious, Brainy grabs the stone and decides that he must find and destroy
Pulsar Stargrave. He sends a transmission to his fellow Legionnaires
explaining what he intends on doing. The Legionnaires know they must find
Stargrave before Brainiac 5 does.

SUPERBOY [1st series] # 227 (May 1977), "War At World's End!"
Part three of three. The Legionnaires find Brainiac 5 in orbit above the
planet Colu. Brainiac 5 had concluded that, once Stargrave's secret was out,
he was bound to attack the one place he hates most in the universe. The
Legionnaires split into teams, and each encounters Stargrave or his
forces. Brainiac 5 tells his teammates that the original Brainiac had
grown bored with his endless battles with Superman, so he built a
time-ship which slipped forward through the timestream into the 30th
century. Due to a side-effect of the time-traveling process, Brainiac fell
into a death-like coma. As Stargrave had stated, he was indeed discovered
by aliens and buried in the super-nova, emerging in his new form. Brainiac
5's team is soon captured by Stargrave. He tells Brainy that, even though
the Computer Tyrants of Colu had created him to be their slave, he still
owes them his existence. He plans on repaying his debt by reviving his
computer-creators with his immense power. Once they live again, he intends
on making the Coluan people their slaves. At that moment, Superboy and
Wildfire arrive. The double-punch of the two mighty heroes sends Pulsar
Stargrave hurtling clear into Colu's sun. Note: Later revelations in
L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 and '90, that Stargrave was not Brainiac but actually the
Computer Tyrants themselves, imply that Stargrave's actual intention here
was to regain for himself control of the planet that he had once ruled.

THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES [2nd series] #273 (Mar 1981), "A Murderer -
- Among Us?"
President Marte Allon, at the request of the United Earth,
orders the Legion to disband for not punishing Brainiac 5 for the murder
of An Ryd, who supposedly died at his hands during a period when he
suffered from insanity. Brainy knows that, as long as his innocence is in
question, he cannot remain a member, and he leaves. Chameleon Boy shocks
the other Legionnaires by telling them that they should begin looking for
An Ryd's true killer! The Legionnaires travel to Rimbor, where they begin
their own investigation into Ryd's death. They are soon attacked by Ryd's
true killer... Pulsar Stargrave. Ever since his defeat, Stargrave has
worked towards one end -- the destruction of Brainiac 5. After defeating
the Legionnaires, Stargrave heads to one of Rimbor's colonized moons.
Elsewhere, Brainiac 5 concludes that he could not have killed An Ryd. He
catches up with the Legionnaires, and then goes after Stargrave alone.
Brainiac 5 follows Stargrave's trail, and finds his enemy waiting for him.
Brainy tricks Stargrave into releasing a massive amount of his energy,
apparently destroying himself. Brainy survives inside of his personal
force-shield.

LEGION OF SUBSTITUTE HEROES SPECIAL #1 (1985), "You Can't Keep A Good
Villain Down"
On the planet Bismoll, the government has decided to move
to a computer economy. When the computers are activated, they secretly
transmit a signal, which soon reaches a distant star. An energy is
awakened deep within the stellar furnace. It follows the summons and
reforms on Bismoll. Pulsar Stargrave has returned! Stargrave immediately
makes plans to take control of the planet. However, when he discovers that
the planet is Bismoll, a useless world, Stargrave angrily returns to the
computers, confronting them. Tenzil Kem, formally the Legionnaire called
Matter-Eater Lad, attacks Stargrave, biting off his nose. Tenzil barely
escapes and meets up with the Legion of Substitute Heroes. The Substitute
Heroes battle Stargrave, who is eventually destroyed when Stone Boy falls
on the android's head, splitting him in two. The computers that had
summoned Stargrave surrender control of the planet upon his defeat.

Before the wasted flash of the Power Company and the corporate
sponsorship of the Conglomerate, Hero Hotline was on the job as your
reliable, forty-hour-per-week superheroes in the DC Universe. If you need
help, just call 1-800-555-HERO!

Hero Hotline is a 24/7 organization that takes telephone calls and
requests from people with odd or mundane problems that they believe
require the expertise and special powers of a super-hero.

The Coordinator was the man behind Hero Hotline. Though never revealed
on-panel, the Coordinator was actually Harry "Tex" Thomson, the former
member of the All-Star Squadron known as Mr. America/The Americommando. He
is assisted in his task by the "most advanced robot monitor in the world",
the 500-2Q, more affectionately known as Sooz or Soozie-Q.

Hero Hotline has a number of civilian telephone operators trained to
screen calls and provide basic information, and a number of super-heroes
on the payroll. The superheroes include:

DIAMONDETTE
Diana Theotocopoulos' hands are as hard as diamonds and can slice through
almost anything. She is using her job at Hero Hotline to pay her way through
medical school, wanting to be the first surgeon to perform an operation
without using a scalpel.

HOTSHOT
Billy Lefferts is the youngest member of Hero Hotline and can shoot fireballs
from his fingertips. Definitely has to be one of the better entry-level job
for a kid nowadays.

MICROWAVABELLE (a.k.a. MICROWAVE MOM)
Belle Jackson joined Hero Hotline after her husband Martin was killed in
a liquor store robbery. A mother of two, she invented a portable microwave
generation device and used it to get the job with Hero Hotline. She eventually
met up with her husband's killer on a case, and the man committed suicide when
confronted with all the things he had done.

MISTER MUSCLE (a.k.a. FLEX, MR. MIGHTY, BROTHER BICEP, etc.)
Sturgis Butterfield, besides having a penchant for changing his super-hero
code name, is a bodybuilder who has considerable strength (though whether it
is truly in the superhuman range has never been discussed).

PRIVATE EYES
Lester Lee is a private detective who has a unique set of goggles that
give him telescopic, x-ray, microscopic and a variety of other vision
abilities.

STRETCH
Tom Longacre has the ability to stretch and reshape his body, ala Plastic Man
or the Elongated Man (in fact, he apparently got his abilities by using
Gingold well before Ralph Dibny discovered it, and claims to have been
stretching long before Plastic Man as well). He occasionally (well a lot of
the time) laments his role at Hero Hotline, since he is primarily given jobs
like retrieving kittens from trees or rings that have fallen down sewers.
Stretch apparently knows the Coordinator from way back. He has also worked
with the original Red Tornado, the Justice Society, Hourman, and is godfather
to (one of?) Johnny Quick's children (and has worked with the obviously-out-
of-continuity duo of Captain Atom and Dr. Manhattan). He has also battled The
Penguin and The Calculator. Stretch was married to a woman named Selma who he
now describes as a bit of a flake.

VOICE-OVER
Andy Greenwald has the ability to minic any voice/sound and is an accomplished
ventriloquist.

LIGHTNING EYES
Terry Carbone was a speed reader who was hired to help process the telephone
messages. Yeah, I know...don't say it.

The Night Crew includes the pro-union Zeep the Living Sponge (a former
Dial H for Hero character from ADVENTURE COMICS #482), Marie the Talking
Turtle, Thunderhead, and Chlorino. Other heroes working for the organization
include versions of Card Queen, The Herald, Ms. Terrific (modeled after Terry
Sloane) and a civilian looking remarkably like Alley Oop.

The Peeps, a Tribble-like seeming collective, may also be official
members of the group, but that was unclear in the original stories.

The Odd Man was also shown entering the office in one issue, though
whether or not he is/was an official employee is unclear.

The Flash also stopped by once, but just to use the rest room.

Hero Hotline's first recorded adventure detailed the arrival of Hotshot
(and his mother) to the team. A costumed but unnamed criminal Mr. Muscle
brought in tried to escape by holding Diamondette hostage, but she easily
escaped his clutches by cutting the scalpel he was wielding in half. Mr.
Muscle, assuming the name Flex, and Private Eyes investigated the
disappearance of actress Melanie Boulder, who had been filming a
commercial at the Bonestar meat packing plant. They discovered that a
rather religious nut had kidnapped her and was holding her hostage in one
of the freezers. Melanie took an immediate liking to Private Eyes, who she
started dating. At the same time, Microwavabelle and Voice-Over were
covering a liquor store hold-up in which a drug-crazed gunman was holding
hostages. It turned out to be the man who had killed Belle's husband.
After trying to convince him (using Belle's powers and Voice-Over's
ventriloquism) that he was talking to God, the gunman killed himself.
Hotshot and Stretch were returnign from getting a cat down from a tree
when they discovered an anti-smoker advocate in the subway threatening to
shoot smokers with a squirt gun filled with gasoline. They disarmed him
fairly easily, and returned to base. The day ended with master inventor
Roderick C. Broderick bringing in his problem. He had invented a plastic
that was completely indestructible, and as a test, hjad sealed his dog
Astro in a box using his indisoluble super-glue...forgetting to add any
airholes. Diamondette was able to free him by cutting through the glue,
though she did chip a fingernail in the process.

The Hero Hotline limited series began with a number of plot points,
including Voice-Over's introduction of Fred, a "fellow hero" who was
supposedly invisible, intangible and only seemed to talk when Voice-Over
was around. Naturally, most everyone assumes it was simply Voice-Over
playing a joke, but Fred's existence never was completely disaffirmed. He
was sent to investigate the claims that a elderly woman, Mrs. Culligan,
was being contacted by martians, who wanted her to become their queen. Mr.
Muscle (using that name that day) was called to the home of Mrs. Bartoli,
a victim of spouse abuse. He brought her some literature and prevented her
husband from attacking her again.

After fishing a ring out of the sewer for a pair of lovebirds, Stretch
and Private Eyes happened upon the super-villain known as Quakemaster, who
was attempting to tunnel into a bank. The majority of Hero Hotline showed
up and managed to capture Quakemaster using a unique brand of teamwork.

The next day, Mr. Bartoli and his lawyer, Eric F. Schuster, arrived to
serve notice on Mr. Muscle and Hero Hotline, saying that Mr. Muscle had
injured Mr. Bartoli in the scuffle the previous day. After they left, it
was reported that Microwavabelle's kids were among those held hostage on a
bus by a group of gunmen calling themselves the United Fighters for
Freedom. After waiting impatiently for the authorities to solve the
situation, Belle finally lost her cool and went to take care of it herself.
The Coordinator sent Diamondette, Mr. Muscle and Private Eyes after her, and
the situation was resolved with no injuries to any of the children.

The next day, Belle was on desk duty because she couldn't find a
sitter, showing new employee Lightning Eyes around Hero Hotline.
Diamondette was hired to go on the Alberto Rosario talk show (think
Geraldo) to open what was reputed to be Pandora's Box (and much
like Al Capone's safe, was empty). Voice-Over and Private Eyes discovered
that the "Martians" had set up Mrs. Culligan in her basement as their
queen, hoping to get money out of her, and Stretch of course rescued
another cat from a tree, and pulled a young child out of a well. Snafu, a
former foe of Man-Bat, attacked the Stock Exchange, completely disrupting
trading and sending Hotshot and Mr. Muscle after him (to be joined by
Stretch, Private Eyes and Voice-Over, who eventually stopped the criminal
by overloading his hearing with an amplified shout). A phone call from Mr.
Bartoli earlier lured Mr. Muscle to an alleyway where someone tried to hit
him with a pipe wrench.

The next day Belle, Diamondette and Voice-Over brought back a block of
ice from a Burger Town that had been delivered there instead of to Hero
Hotline. The block of ice contained what appeared to be the frozen body of
wartime hero Mr. America (though Harry stated unequivicoally that it
wasn't). The body inside was a fake and contained a bomb that the team
barely got outside the headquarters before it exploded. Private Eyes and
Melanie Boulder also got a wedding license, and Melanie began planning
their wedding.

Mr. Muscle was arrested for the murder of Bartoli. Stretch's niece,
Ellie Longacre, was hired as his defense attorney for the rather expedited
trial, in which Mrs. Bartoli claimed to have seen Mr. Muscle kill her
husband with the pipe wrench that someone almost hit him with that night
in the alley. Meanwhile, someone hired the supervillain known as the
Firebug to attack the Hero Hotline offices to bring out The Coordinator.
Luckily a well-planned assault by Stretch, Diamondette, Zeep the Living
Sponge and the others brought a quick end to the stand-off. SooZ's head
was badly melted during the attack, so Belle replaced it with the head of
the Mr. America body that had been defrosted the previous day.

Mr. Muscle's trial was not going much better the next morning until
Stretch discovered that Mr. Bartoli had called his attorney right before
he left to meet Mr. Muscle, especially after Bartoli's lawyer, Schuster,
goaded him into a violent display of rage. But information from Stretch
forced Mrs. Bartoli to recant her testimony and declare that Schuster was
the real murderer ("Just like on Perry Mason!"). Meanwhile, the Hero
Hotline operatives were being called out on jobs and then disappearing.
Sooz's monitors were being disrupted so their progress could not be
followed. Discovering that all of them had disappeared in different
sections of the same block, The Coordinator had the offices evacuated, and
the real villain behind it all was revealed...The Calculator, an old
adversary of both The Coordinator (he knew Harry's name) and Stretch.
Unfortunately for him, The Calculator didn't figure things out quite as
well as he should have, and Hero Hotline stopped him fairly quickly.

Private Eyes and Melanie were married, Mr. Muscle was laid up
recovering from injuries in the battle with the Calculator, and "Fred"
made an appearance on the Alberto show, but got stagefright and couldn't
say anything. And the routine of Hero Hotline got back to normal...if
anything there can be considered "normal".

Members of Hero Hotline attended the opening of Warriors, Guy Gardner's
theme bar and restaurant.

Former private investigator/secret agent Tim Trench joined Hero Hotline
after the original mini-series ended. On his only recorded job with the
group, He attired himself in a brown/green costume reminiscent of the
Spirit. He went to Houma, Louisiana in response to a call from some hostages
of an evil druid, but got caught in traffic and missed everything.

Stretch, Private Eyes, and Diamondette also showed up at Project Cadmus
when the call was put out for a replacement for Superboy (when he was on
his Hyper-Time adventure).

Diamondette was part of the army of female metahumans assembled during
the Joker's Last Laugh debacle (Mr. Muscle was also on the scene as
well).

APPEARANCES:

Action Comics Weekly #637-640

Hero Hotline #1-6

Guy Gardner: Warrior #29

Swamp Thing v2 #162

Superboy v3 #65

Wonder Woman v2 #175

The VigilanteMember

posted March 12, 2002 08:01 PM

Here's another one not on the list but probably should be:

RUBY RYDER

Ruby Ryder was one of the few continuing characters besides The Batman
to appear in the pages of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD.

In her first appearance, Ruby Ryder, the world's richest woman, offers
Batman $5,000,000 (to his favorite charity) to find her missing fiance,
dilletante Kyle Morgan, who had vanished somewhere in South America while
evaluating the emerald deposits of one of her mining companies. Batman
agreed and journeyed to South America. He battled and bested the seaplane
pilot who took Morgan into the jungle, and had the man drop him in the
same place. Unfortunately, the pilot also took off, leaving Batman to the
natives. He escaped them, and managed to return, forcing the pilot to take
him to the real place where he had stashed Morgan, apparently intent on
blackmailing Ruby for his return. After a slightly harrowing plane trip
back to Gotham, Batman returned Morgan to Ruby, only to watch him kill him
in cold blood and frame Batman for the crime. Batman later discovered,
through Ruby's assistant Hinton, that she had planned to kill Morgan all
along and had left the country. Bruce Wayne then left Gotham, following
Ruby to the Riviera. He also noticed that he was both being followed by
Ruby's thugs, and by a mysterious protector who was removing some of the
assassins on Batman's trail. Batman caught up with Ruby at her estate at
Jebel Al-Dikk, and brought her back to Gotham to stand trial for murder.
After being convicted and losing her appeal, Ruby was sentenced to die in
the electric chair. On the day of her execution, Batman burst into the
execution chamber, declaring that Morgan was still alive...in the guise of
the executioner. Kyle Morgan was also revealed to be...Plastic Man! Plas had
longed to live a normal life and know a woman's love, so he used his
powers to become Kyle Morgan, a man no woman could long resist. He fell in
love with Ruby, but walked out on her after discovering her cruel and
selfish nature. He paid the pilot in South America to fake his death, but
was foiled by Batman's detective skills. He feigned death when Ruby shot
him and followed Batman, leaving crucial clues that led to Ruby's capture.
Ruby stormed out, and Plas was left with the question "In this wide, wild
world of today, is there room for me, or am I really what I feared - an
out-of-date freak?"

Ruby Ryder next showed up again to plague both The Batman and Plastic
Man. Commissioner Gordon give Batman the assignment of bringing in Bruce
Wayne, who is wanted for fraud and murder. At the same time, Bruce Wayne
(!?) is halfway around the world, trying to acquire the Neji, the sacred
totem statue of the Kahari Tribe of Africa, which he plans to return to
its owners. As Bruce returns to his hotel room, The Batman slaps handcuffs
on him. Bruce reminds "Batman" of the deal he had and of what happened a
week ago, when he discovered Plastic Man panhandling on the streets of
Gotham. Batman wanted Plas to impersonate him while he went to acquire the
Neji statue. Plas/Batman refuses to believe him and Bruce is subdued and
returned to Gotham City for trial. While in jail, Bruce Wayne is visited
by his "attorney", Rex Mason, better known as Metamorpho, who brings him
his Batman uniform and a way out. High atop the Wayne Building, Batman
spies Plastic Man entering Ruby Ryder's skyscraper. A closer examination
reveals that Ruby has once again bewitched Plastic Man (as Batman) into
loving her and believing he really was the Batman (using a polymeric
catalyst to brainwash him), and had provided the fake evidence that was
used to jail Bruce Wayne. The whole plot was to ensure that Ruby would get
the Neji statue. Ruby went to Istanbul to purchase the Neji, since her's
was the only bid now that Bruce Wayne was out of the running. Batman and
Metamorpho also hid on her plane, traveling with her to a Caribbean
island. Batman got the Neji out of her villa, but Metamorpho was forced to
change himself into a copy of the statue in order to give Batman time to
get it away to safety. He also created a tape recorder to get the evidence
they needed to prove Ruby framed Bruce Wayne and was planning to kill
Plastic Man. Ruby's smoking caused Metamorpho to cough, blowing his
disguise. Ruby's assistant Hinton stopped Plastic Man from drinking the
solvent (that would have killed him) just in time, so that he could defend
Ruby. Ruby reminded Plas that he had his powers and he and Metamorpho
battled until Plas started getting woozy as the catalyst that brainwashed
him wore off. Plas and Metamorpho easily captured Ruby and Hinton, and
everyone returned to Gotham. Batman gave Plastic Man hope that he wouldn't
return to his panhandling days, and Bruce Wayne returned the Neji to the
Kaharis.

Rubynext showed up working with Bruce Wayne and the Metal
Men to uncover the Centennial Time Capsule in a vacant lot in Gotham City.
Dr. Thaddeus Morgan had buried the capsule on a piece of property that was
centered between lots owned by Bruce and Ruby. When the capsule was
uncovered, a pair of humanoid robots, both claiming to be Jason Morgan,
the son of Dr. Morgan, burst from the site and began to battle. The first
fell to the second, who then grabbed Ruby and took off over the rooftops,
evading both the Metal Men and The Batman with apparent ease. Batman and
the robots brought the damaged humanoid to the Metal Men's creator, Doc
Magnus, who determined that the machine was made of modern materials and
was apparently planted in the time capsule recently. The other humanoid
broke in to the lab and stole a piece of parchment from the other's hand,
and then broke out of Magnus's lab, headbutting his way through a steel
roof. Batman, while searching for Ruby, saw lights on in her Double "R"
penthouse. He found her there along with the Jason Morgan who kidnapped
her, apparently both considerably more than strangers. While odd thoughts
of jealousy creeped into Batman's dreams that night, Tin of the Metal Men
kept watch on Ruby Ryder's building, and alerted Batman when the pair
tried to leave. He was spotted and ripped to shreds by the time Batman
arrived on the scene. In the meantime, Ruby and Jason had went to see
Judge Spencer, who was viewing the recently unearthed will of the late
Thaddeus Morgan, who named Jason as his sole heir, and also got a
restraining order against the Batman. Back at Magnus's lab, Doc had
discovered that Tin's "responsometer was crushed to atoms," effectively
killing the robot. They also discovered that the robotic Jason was made
from materials manufactured by Ruby Ryder Enterprises. The next day, Bruce
Wayne arrived at the Wayne Foundation to find his sign being taken down,
his staff fired, and Jason and Ruby in his office. Jason's father owned
the land the building was on, so it was now legally his, and Bruce was
evicted for trespassing.

After being thrown from the Wayne Foundation building, Bruce realized
that this had been Ruby's plan all along, to ruin him. He donned his
Batman attire and headed to his penthouse to search for any incriminating
evidence against Ruby, but was prevented by a very strong and agile Jason
Morgan, who knocked him off his Bat-rope. Luckily, the machinations of the
Metal Men below saved his life. Batman tried to gain entrance through a
secret panel, but was again stopped, this time by a large python, and
Jason cracked the python like a whip, sending the Dark Knight out one of
the skyscraper's windows. This time, Batman's life was saved by an
opportune arrow, which sprouted hang glider vanes and brought him to a
nearby roof, and his friend Green Arrow. Green Arrow was in town to test
some new arrow designs with Doc Magnus (who was at the moment, bailing the
Metal Men out of jail, where they had been sent for trespassing while
saving Batman). Batman was giving up, since Ruby and Jason had the
building legally. Green Arrow was very chagrined to see his friend in such
a defeated mood, so a few days later, "J. Jacob Archer" (presumably Oliver
Queen was still too well-known in the upper class circles) made an
appearance at the former Wayne Foundation building. He was an "excavation
specialist" who had come to see Ruby because he believed that the land
where the time capsule was excavated held even more historical treasures,
and wanted her backing to dig there. Mr. Archer ired Jason with his suave
ways, and Ruby agreed to the plan. His plan grew unexpected fruit when a
cavern full of Thaddeus Morgan's machines was actually found under the
site, and Jason grew even more angry and jealous when Ruby kissed Archer.
Green Arrow told Batman and the Metal Men of the new situation, and they
investigated that evening (Doc Magnus having been gotten them all
appointed to an official historical investigation committee to give them a
legal right to be there). They arrived just as the jealousy consumed Jason
and he attempted to destroy the machines in hopes of destroying Ruby's
feelings for Archer. The giant machine he tried to use went out of control
and headed for the Ryder Building. Meanwhile, "Archer" had left Ruby in
the penthouse and assumed his Green Arrow identity just as the machine was
bearing down on the building. The Metal Men made a valiant attempt to stop
the runaway machine, but were ground up underneath the juggernaut's
treads. Green Arrow was forced to use a powerful TNT arrow to disable the
machine, but the explosion caused the Ryder Building to shake and one of
the giant "R's" fell off the roof...only missing Ruby because Jason pushed
her out of the way and took the full brunt of the impact himself. He died
proclaiming his love for the woman. Days later, Batman had also uncovered
documents in the lab that proved that Thaddeus Morgan had been certified
as insane, making his will invalid and the Wayne Foundation Building was
once again his. Doc Magnus had also used information in Morgan's notes to
reconstitute Tin's responsometer, bringing the stuttering robot back to
"life". Meanwhile, even the tough-as-nails Ruby Ryder shed a tear over the
death of Jason Morgan.

APPEARANCES:

The Brave And The Bold #95 (Batman and Plastic Man)

The Brave And The Bold #123 (Batman, Plastic Man, and Metamorpho)

The Brave And The Bold #135 (Batman and the Metal Men)

The Brave And The Bold #136 (Batman, Green Arrow, and the Metal Men)

outpost2Member

posted March 12, 2002 10:48 PM

"Ruby Ryder" is added as item 267.1.

Finally finished my review of the SUPER FRIENDS comics. Turned up a lot
of info, so I decided to present my notes in their entirety, then go back
and do more detailed write-ups for the most obscure of the batch.

#1 (Nov 1976) : Part one of two. Villains: The Super Foes (Penguin,
Poison Ivy, Toyman, Cheetah, and the Human Flying Fish) and the Junior
Super Foes (Chick, Honeysuckle, Toyboy, Kitten, and Sardine). First
appearance of the Super Foes as a team, first appearance of the Junior
Super Foes and its individual members. Note: The letters page establishes
the Junior Super Friends as Wendy Harris and Marvin White. Wendy is the
niece of Harvey Harris, the detective that trained young Bruce Wayne. It
is also suggested that she is possibly the Earth-One version of the
Earth-Two Hourman's wife, Wendy Harris-Tyler. Marvin is the son of Daniel
White, inventor, and the former Diana Prince. This Diana Prince is the
woman who gave up her identity to Diana, the Amazon Princess, so that she
could follow her heart.

#2 (Dec 1976) : Part two of two. Villains: The Super Foes and the
Junior Super Foes. Guest-stars: The Flash and Krypto; cameo by Queen
Hippolyte.

#6 (Aug 1977) : Villain: The Menagerie Man (first app.). Wendy and
Marvin are told that they have completed their training. Guest-star: The
Atom. Note: The origin of the Atom is retold.

#7 (Oct 1977) : Part one of three. Villain: Grax (previous apps. in
ACTION COMICS #342 and #417). First comic book appearance of the new
Junior Super Friends (Zan, Jayna, and Gleek of Exor). Zan and Jayna are
referred to as the Wondertwins. First appearance of the Seraph of Israel,
Godiva of England, Impala of South Africa, and Owlwoman of Oklahoma USA.
Guest-stars: Green Lantern, Green Arrow, the Flash, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and
the Elongated Man; behind-the-scenes are Black Canary, the Atom, and Red
Tornado.

#8 (Nov 1977) : Part two of three. Villain: Grax. First appearance of
the Rising Sun of Japan, Jack O'Lantern of Ireland, Tuatara of New
Zealand, Bushmaster (Bernal Rojas) of Venezuela, and Thunderlord of
Taiwan. Guest-stars: The Flash, the Atom, the Elongated Man, Green
Lantern, Red Tornado, Black Canary, and Green Arrow. Note: Black Canary
mentions the Justice League's recent mission in the 30th century (ref.
JLofA #147-148).

#9 (Dec 1977) : Part three of three. Villains: Grax and Colonel
Conquest (first app.). First appearance of the Tasmanian Devil (Hugh
Dawkins) of Australia, Little Mermaid (alias Ulla Paske) of Denmark, the
Olympian (Aristides Demetrios) of Greece, Icemaiden (Sigrid Nansen) of
Norway. Guest-stars: Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and
the Flash. Wendy and Marvin graduate from the Super-Hero Academy. The
Wondertwins, Zan and Jayna, are accepted as their replacements.

#12 (Jun-Jul 1978) : Guest-stars: T.N.T. and Dyna-Mite (first app. in
WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #5). The duo's powers go out of control. Dyna-Mite
is brought to Atlantis, T.N.T. is brought to Kandor. First comic book
appearance of Doctor Mist (Doctor Mist is a minor character from H. Rider
Haggard's novel "Wisdom's Daughter", Chapter XVIII). Note: The origin of
T.N.T. and Dyna-Mite is retold; they are established as World War II
heroes on Earth-One.

#13 (Aug-Sep 1978) : Guest-star: Doctor Mist. The Super Friends help
Doctor Mist stop a creature he has dubbed "the Mindless Immortal". Doctor
Mist states that he is approximately 11,000 years old, and has dwelt in
exile for nearly 9,000 years.

#14 (Oct-Nov 1978) : Story one / Part one of two. Villains: Overlord
and the Elementals (first app.). Overlord had taken elemental spirits and
given them possession of four humans; he convinced them that the Super
Friends were evil. By the end of part one, the Elementals realize that it
is Overlord that is the enemy. The Elementals consist of the Gnome (Grant
Arden), the Undine (Crystal Marr), the Sylph (Jeannine Gale), the
Salamander (Ginger O'Shea). Story two / The origin of the Wondertwins is
revealed. Grax shown in flashback.

#15 (Dec 1978) : Part two of two. Villains: Overlord and Underling. The
Elementals don new costumes. When Overlord is defeated, Underling becomes
the new Overlord.

#16 (Jan 1979) : Villains: The aliens called the Cvag (first app.).

#17 (Feb 1979) : Part one of two. Villain: The Time Trapper (enemy of
the Legion of Super-Heroes, first app. in ADVENTURE COMICS #317; Wonder
Woman also recognizes him as the Time Master, a foe she fought in WONDER
WOMAN v1 #101). Wonder Woman, Batman, and Robin travel back to Krypton on
its last day, in order to rescue Jayna; there they meet Lyla Ler-Rol.
Superman and Aquaman travel twenty-three years into the future to a
water-world orbiting the star-sun Neryla, in order to rescue Zan.
Guest-star: Queen Hippolyte.

#18 (Mar 1979) : Part two of two. Villain: The Time Trapper. Superman
and Aquaman travel to Atlantis in 59,600 BC, approximately fifty thousand
years before it is destined to sink. Wonder Woman and Robin travel to
Madrigal, Spain in October 1469, where they aid Princess Isabella of
Castile. Batman, Zan, and Jayna travel to Michigan in 1860, where they
meet a young Tom Edison. Guest-star: Tuatara.

#45 (June 1981) : Story one / Part one of two. Villains: Hector
Hammond, Kanjar Ro, Queen Bee, Sinestro, Time Trapper, and the
World-Beater; The Conqueror (first app.) uses them all. First appearance
of the Wild Huntsman of West Germany. Guest-stars: Doctor Mist,
Bushmaster, Godiva, the Rising Sun, the Olympian, and the Little Mermaid.
Story two / Plastic Man.

#46 (July 1981) : Story one / Part two of two. Villains: Hector
Hammond, Kanjar Ro, Queen Bee, Sinestro, Time Trapper, and the
World-Beater; The Conqueror uses them all. Guest-stars: Doctor Mist, the
Wild Huntsman, Bushmaster, Godiva, the Rising Sun, the Olympian, and the
Little Mermaid. In German, the Wild Huntsman is called Wild Jäger, his
horse is Orkan (Hurricane) and his hound is Donnerschlag (Thunderclap).
Story two / The Seraph vs. Flavius Silva, a 1900 year old ghost.

How about doing the Speed Force? There were some older obscure characters
in that issue of FLASH that first introduced it/them.

J AMember

posted March 13, 2002 07:47 PM

Umm. Sorry to disturb you guys. I've been reading this thread and find it
very entertaining. I'm aware that someone is writing up a Blue Jay entry.
Since I've kind of started a minor Blue Jay craze, I was wondering if the
person who writes it can also post the info on the Blue Jay (The DC
Challenge) thread found in OTHER DC UNIVERSE TOPICS page. It would be most
appreciated if it could be done. Thanks.

HellstoneMember

posted March 14, 2002 05:21 AM

Will do. I have been trying to find JLofA #87 before I finish the entry,
but I don't think I'll find it in a near future. So maybe I'll make the
profile soon anyway.

Long live Blue Jay.

/ola

outpost2Member

posted March 14, 2002 11:11 AM

Ola, I can summarize JLofA #87 for you, if you'd like. Give me the thumbs
up, and I'll write up something by Sunday.

a2-ton, as far as the Speed Force is concerned, I would say that it, in
and of itself, is not very obscure, but the individual characters you
refer to may be. Do you remember the issue numbers? Was this from the
Savitar storyline, or earlier?

outpost2Member

posted March 17, 2002 12:45 AM

Well, I finally finished compiling the list of remaining Obscure
Characters. I spent a little extra time noting significant appearances, in
the hopes that it might spur someone to grab one or two entries for
themselves. Before posting the updated list, I'd like to first add a few
more items of my own...

Snapper Carr, former "mascot" of the Justice League of America, was in
Happy Harbor, sitting back watching The First Annual Super-Thon was on
television. It was being hosted by the Justice League of America to raise
money for United Charities. All of a sudden, his calm afternoon was
interrupted by the appearance of Anakronus, "sworn enemy" of his JLA
friends. Anakronus, wielding a strange gun, took Snapper and his entire
family hostage. holding them ransom for the $10,000,000 that the JLA had
raised on the telethon.

Anakronus claimed to have stood beside the Lord of Time during his
first battle with the Justice League of America, and had in fact been the
one who first brought the Time Lord to the modern era, using his
"Time-Gate". He said that they worked together to create the Lord of
Time's armory of super-weapons, and he had remained hidden while the Time
Lord attacked the JLA. When the Lord of Time was defeated, and the JLA
destroyed the armory, Anakronus swore revenge.

Using his gun, his "Chronal -Transmuter" he changed a band of
motorcyclists into knights on horseback to attack Batman, Green Arrow and
Wonder Woman. The trio made fairly quick work of the armored combatants,
though one knight fell and stunned Wonder Woman. Anakronus took quick
advantage of the situation and ensnared her in her own lasso, and then
used its powers of compulsion to have the Amazon knock out her friends.

Anakronus called the telethon to deliver his ransom demand to the JLA,
but got Green Arrow on the phone. The Emerald Archer didn't believe him
and started getting mad, only to have the Elongated Man and Black Canary
cut off the call (GA had already gotten fiesty with some other crank
callers).

Enraged, Anakronus returned to his tale of his first battle with the
JLA. He said he next found Green Lantern, Aquaman and the Flash leaving
the armory with the remains of his equipment. His Chronal-Transmuter
transformed the components into robotic "ultimate soldiers" from the
future. The robots' adaptability to their foes abilities took out the
three Leaguers relatively quickly (though one robot was forced to destroy
itself to knock Green Lantern out), and these three heroes were also added
to Anakronus's prisoners.

The story was interrupted by an opening door, and Anakronus fired on
it. The door dissolved to reveal Snapper's sister Janet, who had come home
unexpectedly. After making sure she was all right, Snapper asked the
villain how he had managed to take out the JLA's big guns: Superman and
the Martian Manhunter.

Anakronus said that as he saw the pair returning from taking the Lord
of Time to prison, he used his Chronal-Transmuter on a pair of lizards,
changing one into a fire-breathing dragon, and the other into an
"adapto-lizard from the distant future," and sent the beasts to assail the
heroes. The fire-breathing dragon attacked the Martian Manhunter, who
struck the beast even as the fiery breath engulfed him. The dragon knocked
him out of the sky with his tail and fused the sand in the ground into
strong glass around him. The Martian Manhunter easily broke out and the
dragon encircled the hero in the coils of his tail and literally crushed
the breath out of him. Superman was holding his own against the
adapto-lizard until the creature used a special vision power to search out
his weaknesses, and then manifested a kryptonite skin.

Anakronus then prompted Snapper to call the telethon, but the line was
busy. Snapper asked the villain how the JLA escaped him. He was
momentarily taken aback, but then continued with his story. Anakronus said
that he released the heroes after they promised they would repair all the
damage done in the armory, but they broke their promise and attacked him
instead. His weapon devolved the JLA into cavemen, and then amoebas, and
finally into oblivion. When Snapper asked why the JLA was still alive now,
Anakronus said that he guessed the effects had worn off.

Snapper finally got through to Green Lantern at the telethon. A few
select words and the Atom streaked through the telephone line, attacking
Anakronus. After avoiding the beam from his gun, the Atom's punch had
little effect on the villain, who turned to fire on Snapper and his
family. Just then, the door (apparently another one that hadn't been
destroyed) burst open with The Red Tornado and the Elongated Man. This trio
made very short work of Anakronus, who got one shot off at Reddy, who quickly
discovered that the fancy weapon was nothing more than a .45 automatic.

Snapper knew that Anakronus was just a standard loony when his story
mentioned the Martian Manhunter fighting the dragon, and he knew that
J'Onn J'Onzz had a vulnerability to fire. As they were leaving with the
captured criminal, The Atom asked Snapper why he hadn't used his JLA
signal device. Snapper said that he wasn't sure it still worked, and after
everything that had happened (Snapper had been tricked by the Joker into
revealing the location of the JLA's secret headquarters) he didn't know if
he still had a right to use it. The Atom simply said "Oh? Then how come
you're still wearing it, kid?"

Appearances: Justice League Of America #114

XanadudeMember

posted March 17, 2002 08:23 PM

OK... don't know if these have been covered (I didn't see them on the list,
leastways) but how about Sonik, Cutlass and Barracuda, and the Moon Dancers
from the 80s WORLD'S FINEST?
The Golden Age Wonder Boy?
Onyx from GREEN ARROW?

ANDREW BENNETT
In 1588, Lord Andrew Bennett fought for England in
Queen Elizabeth's war with Spain. Bennett hated war, and when it was over
he would go back to his prefered pursuit; art, music, and the love of a
woman, Mary Steward one of the Queen's handmaidens. Mary was said to have
premonitions and when she told Bennett that it would be dangerous to go
out for his nightly horseback ride, the unbelieving Lord disregarded her
warning and went anyway.

A few hours later he was dead. Attacked by a stranger on the road who
bared his teeth and drew blood from Bennett's jugular. Somehow, with his
dying breath, Bennett was able to stake the monster with a random tree
branch and kill it; then he crawled under a tree and died. This was 1593.

Three days later Mary, looking for her love, knocked on his chamber
door. She found him drinking deer blood from a golden chalice and hiding
in the dark like a grub. When Mary's initial shock subsided, she wanted to
join her love in his curse, to be with him forever. Bennett was afraid,
afraid of being alone and afraid of his situation, so despite his extreme
misgivings...he did it.

But then Mary changed. When she felt the power coursing through her,
the new found abilities that Andrew's blood had given to her, somthing
inside her died. What had once been the sweet, loving Mary Steward
corrupted into the power mad, demented Mary, Queen of Blood. She told
Bennett that they should take over the world, that they should rule lesser
men and be gods amoung them. But Bennett was repelled by this and called
Mary mad, begging her to stop. Insulted that she had given her life to him
only to be rejected, Mary burst through the window and FLEW away, swearing
revenge. (HOM 290)

Bennett vowed to stop her as well and through out their nearly 400 year
battle, Mary formed a group called The Blood Red Moon who was set on
taking over the world. Bennett also formed a small band of hunters bent on
finding Mary and bringing her down.

DMITRI MISHKIN
Around the turn of the century, in Russia, the
Mishkin family let a freezing young woman into their home for food and
shelter. During the night the woman attacked and killed Ivan Mishkin, the
head of the family. Then she went for the mother, Dunya. The woman was
Mary, and three days later when she returned...she came to claim Dunya
Mishkin as her own. Dunya's son tried to stop Mary but nothing could,
within seconds the two women had turned to bats and flown away. That was
when Andrew Bennett appeared and took the boy under his wing. The boy was
named Dmitri Mishkin and would fight the war against the BRM with Bennett
for the next 80 years.(HOM 295)

While investigating the gathering of a group called The American
Crusade, Mishkin ran across his Mother who was involved with the group. He
was captured and when Bennett found him sometime later, he had been turned
into a vampire. A fight between Mishkin and Dunya ensued and when it was
over, both were dead. Despite their differences, Mishkin had been
Bennett's longest and closest friend.(HOM 315,316)

DEBORAH DANCER
During the summer of 1969, in a place called
Woodstock, Mary had dispatched her minions to overtake the kids that had
come to the event. It was a perfect opportunity to find new recruits for
the Blood Red Moon. Some of those recruits were the friends of flower
child Deborah Dancer and when they tried to get her to join, Andrew
Bennett intercepted and dispatched the undead the hippies. Enraged, Mary
tried to fight Deborah and Bennett but fled due to the rising sun of the
oncoming day. After that, Deborah joined Bennett and Mishkin for the
battle against Mary's BRM. She would eventually become Bennett's
confidant, his girlfriend and his lover.(HOM 311)

Like Jonah Hex and John Constantine, Andrew Bennett doesnt keep friends
for long. Death follows him like a companian and effects those who are
foolish enough to become entangled in his life. Numerous men, women, and
children have died either by Bennett's hand or for knowing him. But
Bennett has made it a point not to kill innocents, and he wont kill for
food...prefering to survive on bottled blood then take a life. Vampire
lives, however, are a different matter and Bennett's path is litter with
their corpses. Amazingly, Deborah Dancer was able to survive the
series...from a certain point of view.

After Mishkin died, Bennett and Deborah found a serium that was
supposed to cure the vampire of it's limitations (death by sunlight, lust
for blood) but keep it's powers and strengths. The serum worked on
Bennett, for a while, until his atrophied internal organs, unused for 400
years, began breaking down; it plunged him into a coma-like state. While
in this helpless state, Mary drove the final nail into Bennett's coffin
and slaughtered Deborah in front of him, while he watched helplessly,
unable to stop it. But there was somthing Mary or Bennett didnt know,
Deborah had taken some of the serum as well and 3 days later she arose as
a new kind of vampire, one unhampered by the traditional weaknesses. A
fight with Mary insued and in the end Deborah dragged Mary's pleading
corpse out into the new day's sun and watched as she exploded into
dust.(HOM 319)

His burden lifted, Mary and her army where finally destroyed after a
400 year pursuit, Andrew Bennett's soul slipped off into oblivion and
freedom.

(Bennett returned a few years later in JM DeMatteis' DR. FATE
(1988-1989) but I dont think of these as canon so unless you ask nicely, I
ain't touchin 'em. The original ends so
poetically, with everyone dying at the end, that bringing Bennett back
seems like too much of a "comic Book" ploy. Any new adventures that
feature him should take place in the 300 years of his life that are
undocumented, from 1598 to 1900; but let him rest the years after his
death.)

Sorry I'm taking so long, I'm trying to dig out the info, but the room is
in a state of disarray. As a gesture of good faith, I'll give you USA, The
Spirit of Old Glory as well, when I get my stuff together
.

outpost2Member

posted March 18, 2002 11:50 AM

Originally posted by Xanadude:

Sonik, Cutlass and Barracuda, and the Moon Dancers from the
80s WORLD'S FINEST? The Golden Age Wonder Boy? Onyx from GREEN
ARROW?

Sonik, Swordfish and Barracuda, and the Moondancers were all
covered in a previous round (the list of characters already covered is on
page 1 of this thread). We can add Wonder Boy and Onyx.

The VigilanteMember

posted March 18, 2002 02:07 PM VEXT

The man known as Vext is a god. Not a New God, but a god in the sense
of Thor, Odin, Apollo, and Ares. Vext was a member of the "Jejeune Realm"
(also known as the Borough of Mawkish Indifference) in the Pan-Dimensional
Pantheons. Vext was, in fact, the "patron deity of mishap and misfortune."
He was the embodiment of the principle of "Murphy's Law" - whatever can go
wrong will.

The problem was that the Jejeune Realm was being phased out (read:
obliterated from all existence) because they were no longer being actively
worshipped by mortal beings. Vext and his fellow Gods were being evicted
from their plane of existence, and unfortunately, Vext did get the
paperwork in the mail to choose his new home. After a lot of confusion and
waiting, Vext was sent to Earth, where he was to have access to the whole
planet and to live among human society, so long as he didn't try to
deliberately influence the course of human affairs, or attempt to take
over the planet, or become a super-hero. So the series was basically about
Vext's adventures as he tried to understand humans and try to fit in to
the routine in Delta City.

Vext took up residence in Apartment 4-A of Mr. Danforth's building in
Delta City. He is right next door to Colleen McBride, aspiring writer and
temp. Colleen became Vext's friend and does her best to help him adapt to
the ways of the world.

Mr. Danford, the landlord, is very hard of hearing and introduced Vext
to his archenemy: The Murphy Bed. It has a mind of its own and is trying
to kill him. Really. Vext's other arch-enemy is the toilet, which never
stops running. You're just supposed to jiggle it, but we all know that
never works.

Vext did manage to grab a couple of high-class guest stars in his first
issue. Superman and Zauriel of the JLA came by to warn Vext against
attempting to wrest control of the planet from Mankind. Not that that was
something that had really crossed Vext's mind.

Meanwhile, in a plot thread across town, the series' also followed the
adventures of rogue archaeologist Aaron Caldwell in his attempts to
collect icons and statues of "minor deities" - the ones that were
worshipped or idolized in peoples' homes rather than temples - in various
cultures, and gain power from them. His two lovely assistants are Samantha
and Louisa, and they don't necessarily share Aaron's enthusiasm for his
quest...but they are very good at shooting people. In the first story, the
trio went to the Amazon River basin and secured an icon of
Qrttglbrnglrtch, the nigh unpronounceable Patron Diety of Inadvertant
Armageddon (and as such, the fact that Sam and Louisa massacred the tribe
came as no surprise to the victims).

Vext met his first and only "super-villain" in his second issue. Well,
he wasn't really a super-villain...just a stressed-out driver in a car who
may or may not have had his metagene activated by the fact that Vext,
during his driver's test, turned on the same empty stretch of road that
the driver wanted to use. The driver became one with his car, which
changed into a really cool looking machine and off they went..CRASH! In
similar fashion, Vext also had trouble buying furnishings for his new
apartment (at "Not Too Shabby Discount Furniture").

VEXT #3 features the delivery of Vext's furniture. What a stir
that solicitiation must have caused in the comic book world! Naturally,
the furniture came unassembled. Colleen attempted to help Vext, but ended
up taking him to the emergency room when the furniture came alive and
attacked! No...not really. Vext did manage to trip and fall on a drawer
handle in such a way that he was used as an object lesson and was berated
by a puppet for being careless during a skit in the kiddie ward.

Across town, the folks at GeneTech discovered that their smart germs
had taken a powder and scarpered away. They had escaped all the way to
Burger Biz and were well on their way to complete control of the planet
when they all ended up on Vext's burger. They couldn't handle Vext's
digestive system, and the world was saved.

Soon after Vext's arrival, most of Aaron's collection of minor icons
destroyed themselves, and Aaron (somehow correctly) deduced that this meant
that their plane of existence had ceased to exist. He also figured out that
the four remaining icons were intact because the Gods they represented had
physically manifested themselves on Earth (three of these would obviously be
Vext, Paramour and Rypta Gud'n. The fourth was never mentioned).

Paramour, the Patron Deity of Relationships Gone Hellishly Wrong showed
up on Vext's door step in the next issue. She is Vext's sister...or maybe
his fiancée...or his ex-wife. We're not really sure. She was there to stay
with Vext, as her last romantic dalliance had ended with his wife throwing
her out. She got the bed and she snores.

Aaron and Louisa went on expedition to the M'Tanga Plateau in Zaire,
Africa. They had already been to Madagascar, Tasmania, Iraq, Turkey and
Timbuktu and not found what Aaron was looking for, which was Rypta Gud'n
(the Patron Deity of Ill-Timed Flatulence). Louisa got to the heart of the
matter with the local tribe (blowing away the chief and all the witnesses)
and went into the methane-filled temple (which had been sublet to Rypta
from Ch'mbalamba, the Serpent God). After a rather Indiana Jones-esque
exit from said temple, Aaron and Louisa met Rypta outside the temple,
where they convinced him (and each other) to go back with them for
observation and tests to figure out how to siphon off his godly abilities.
Naturally, they didn't tell him that last part.

Paramour caused considerable confusion in issue #5, when trying to
explain her relationship with Vext to Colleen. Vext admonished Paramour to
tell Colleen the truth, and she did. Unfortunately, it was the truth about
her and Vext being gods exiled on Earth. Luckily, Colleen took it pretty
much in stride, since in the world of super-heroes and super-villains,
"demonic and angelic visitations have become so commonplace these days".

In another plot thread across town, Aaron and the girls had Rypta in
their now rather smelly penthouse and were setting up the "testing
equipment", which was actually a device that Aaron hoped would channel
Rypta's Godly abilities into himself, making him immortal. The girls fled
the building to wait, and bet that Aaron would forget to ground the
machine. The top of the building exploded. Rypta was dead, but Aaron was
unharmed, and apparently had succeeded in his quest...but he had ALL of
Rypta's abilities, including the flatulence bit.

While all of this was going on, the Pan-Dimensional Zone Monitor
Surveillance center had watched the situation unfold with Colleen, Paramour
and Vext, and we're going to take a hand in things. Vext told Colleen that it
really wouldn't be a good idea for her to write about the God-thing, as just
her knowing as much as she did was usually grounds for immediate termination
by the Zone Monitors. She didn't take that news nearly as well as she did the
Vext-God stuff.

While Vext and Colleen talked, Paramour prepared herself for a
trip to the "Better Than Nothing" dating service. She picked a very
hapless case for her first date: Aaron.

Our final issue opened with Vext dying on the battlefields of Asgard,
Colleen being "modified" by the Zone Monitors, and Aaron sneaking off to
avoid Samantha and Louisa (who kept one step ahead of him where ever he
went in the world). Well actually everyone was just having bad dreams.
Vext was invited in for a cup of cocoa with Colleen. The End.

NOTE: Vext is the second "super-hero" to set up shop in Delta City, the
first being, of course, The Heckler.

APPEARANCES:

DC Universe Secret Files And Origins 1999

Vext #1-6

The VigilanteMember

posted March 18, 2002 02:11 PM

BTW, I'll take Silverblade too.

--Rich

Superb OyMember

posted March 19, 2002 10:15 AM

Here's one for you guys: Jimmy Olsen as Super-Batman of Earth...hell, I
can't recall. Some parallel world best forgotten. He had powers like
Superman but for some reason wore a composite of Supes and Bats costume.
The villian of the piece was Clark Kent and once Jimmy came back to our
universe his powers disappeared. Also, remember Super-Freak? Not Rick
James but Metamorpho who gains Superman's powers and Batman's skills. His
new powers lasted one issue also.

The VigilanteMember

posted March 19, 2002 11:10 AM

Originally posted by Superb Oy:

Here's one for you guys: Jimmy Olsen as Super-Batman of Earth...hell,
I can't recall. Some parallel world best forgotten. He had powers like
Superman but for some reason wore a composite of Supes and Bats costume.
The villian of the piece was Clark Kent and once Jimmy came back to our
universe his powers disappeared.

How's this for service?

Steel-Man ("The Batman-Superman of Earth-X")

Jimmy Olsen visited Professor Potter in his Mount Tipton workshop, to
talk to him about other dimensions. Potter had created a Dimension-Travel
Machine which he was going to demonstrate when he returned from a lecture,
but Jimmy accidentally activated the machine while he was inside. The
top of Mount Tipton blew off in the resultant explosion, and Jimmy pulled
himself from the machine's wreckage to find himself on another Earth. He
noticed that the trees grew up and bowed over the ground there.

Jimmy apparently landed in the middle of a bullfighting arena, because
he saw Perry White dressed as a matador in front of a charging bull.
Perry was startled by Jimmy landing and tripped in front of the charging
bull. Jimmy suddenly discovered that he had super-powers much like
Superman, and saved Perry.

Perry convinced Jimmy to use his powers for good (since it looked like
he was stranded on this alternate Earth) and the young man stayed with the
retired matador, honing his abilities. But soon, the elderly White's heart
gave out, but not before he gave Jimmy a letter of introduction to his
cousin in Metropolis.

Jimmy went to see Perry's cousin, who was in fact Clark Kent, Tours
Custodian of the Metropolis World's Fair. Jimmy accidentally knocked over
a statue of Benedict Arnold (the second president of the United States),
which was seen by Clark. Clark said that Jimmy was Steel-Man, a character
that Clark had created in his hobby as a science fiction writer (he had
also created such characters as Solarman, Mystic Man, Storm King, and
Superman himself). Jimmy decided to take the name of Clark's fictional
hero and, after discovering that his clothing was now indestructible,
reweaved his clothes in to a costume. The costume had the trunks and books
of Superman, with the grey shirt, leggings and cape and cowl of The Batman
(to hide his red hair and freckles). The chest emblem was an "s" that was
very similar to the one that Superman wore in his first appearances in
ACTION COMICS. Jimmy also gave his signal watch to
Clark so he could summon him whenever he needed him.

Jimmy met this world's Potter, who was Clark's tough-as-nails boss, and
Lucy Lane, who monitors the World's Fair computer. While on his tour of
the complex, the Luthar (an acronym for League Using Terror Havoc And
Robbery) League attacked, flying in on anti-gravity discs. Pulling a
"Clark," Jimmy tripped and fell into the garbage chute so he could change
into Steel-Man.

Meanwhile, the Luthar League had attacked the Science Hall, firing
their Element Guns at the Radio-Telescope model to transform it into a
huge spider-web to capture the guards. Steel-Man broke their the web as
they tried to make off with a model atom that used priceless gems for
electrons. Steel-Man stopped them easily and later that day, the Mayor of
Metropolis declared it to be "Steel-Man Day" in honor of the new
crime-fighter, and held a ticker-tape parade for him.

Meanwhile, the Luthar League was making more nefarious plans, this time
with it's leader (who looked exactly like Batman's archenemy, the Joker)
planning the demise of Steel-Man. Soon after, Clark summoned Steel-Man
with his signal watch, wanting Jimmy to get him a chunk of lava for
inspiration as he wrote a new science fiction TV play about a hero named
Lava-Man.

At the same time, the Luthar League was raiding the World's Fair Art
Pavilion (including taking a genuine Rembrandt portrait of the great actor
Mickey Mantle in the role of Hamlet). This time as the hero approached
them, the League diverted Steel-Man's attention by magnetizing a model of
Earth, creating a giant lodestone that threatened to uproot all metal
structures in the area. Steel-Man melted a giant tire from an exhibit,
coating the globe and shielding the magnetic attraction (yeah, I
know...that's just what he did though). The gang also used their element
guns on the space rocket exhibit, launching it toward the crowded
fairground. Steel-Man intercepted it, but was suddenly very weak. The
rocket had apparently been carrying some of the remains of Mount Tipton
that had been carried over into this dimension, and like Superman and his
vulnerability to Kryptonite, Jimmy found he was weakened by Tiptonite.
Luckily, Clark came by and was able to remove all the deadly rocks.

Later, Jimmy is surprised to see his Professor Potter there,
having built a new Diminsion Travel Machine to rescue Jimmy.
Unfortunately, Jimmy didn't want to go, since he was Superman here, and
even Lucy Lane was crazy about him. Potter decided to wait to see if Jimmy
would change his mind, as he was called away on another alarm from Clark.

Steel-Man followed the signal-watch's tone only to find The Joker at
the helm of an odd machine. The Joker took off his mask to reveal...Clark
Kent, the true leader of the Luthar League! He activated his machine,
which he gloated contained an element from the lava Steel-Man had brought
him. The device drained Steel-Man's powers and transferred them to Clark,
who was going to make himself King of the World.

Later, Clark was defiantly facing off an angry crowd when Steel-Man,
unmasked as Jimmy, arrived carrying a huge steel shell. He dared to Clark
to prove that he had super-powers by crushing the shell in his bare hands.
Since Clark had already destroyed every piece of Tiptonite, he called
Jimmy's bluff and did so, releasing a strange gas in the process that
Jimmy said would destroy his super-powers. Clark did not believe him,
until Jimmy floored him with a hard left to the jaw.

Later, as Clark Kent was imprisoned, Jimmy revealed that Lucy had used
the computer to come up with the formula for the gas that defeated him.
Jimmy decided to return to his own world with Professor Potter. Potter
asked Jimmy about what was the gas that defeated Clark. Jimmy said that,
ironically, it was a concentrated dose of Krypton Gas.

I recall Blackrock's first appearances in SUPERMAN and ACTION COMICS
but don't have his final appearances in SUPERMAN FAMILY (where I believe
he clashed with Supergirl) so someone else will have to fill that one out.

First a little background:
In the 70s-80s, the television industry
was a major influence on the Superman books. At the time, Clark Kent was a
nationally-recognized TV newscaster and many stories dealt with TV
industry-related themes including thinly-disguised versions of Johnny
Carson and Rona Barrett.

Blackrock, who premiered in ACTION #458-459, was perhaps the epitome of
the TV milieu that Superman was set in. He was not one person but was
actually different people in his various appearances.

It seems that Samuel Tanner, president of UBC broadcasting was angry
that Morgan Edge's WGBS was beating him at the ratings, partly due to all
the Superman-related scoops that WGBS gets.

So, he orders his head scientist, Dr. Peter Silverstone to come up with
UBC's own superhero. The poor scientist, who is definitely a total drone
to his boss, complies by creating Blackrock.

Blackrock had a green and purple costume with no sign of any black on
it. (Shades of the Blue Rajah.) His weapon was a television antenna that
he could use to redirect TV and radio waves into power blasts and various
other uses.

Blackrock tried to upstage Superman as the new hero of Metropolis but
he was really more of a pest, endangering himself and innocents. He talked
in TV-lingo (... "the pause that refreshes..") that seems rather dated
now. His identity was a secret, even to Tanner.

Eventually Superman discovers that Blackrock is Tanner. Silverstone
decided that only Tanner had the courage, drive and initiative to become
UBC's superhero. So he hypnotized his boss and turned him into Blackrock.
(Silverstone was suppose to be a genius but he comes off as a soft-spoken
weirdo. If I hypnotized my boss, I certainly would not turn him into a
superhero.)

After a short battle, Superman straightens Blackrock out and Tanner
goes back to normal, totally unaware of his dual identity.

In SUPERMAN #315, Tanner forces Silverstone to come up with a new
Blackrock. This time, the character is actually armed with a black rock
instead of a TV antenna. And his secret identity is comedian Les Vegas,
who is both a thinly-disguised version of Chevy Chase and nephew of
Tanner. After some problem with mixed identities and a three-page Superman
vs. Chevy Chase battle, the man of steel wins again and once again,
Blackrock vanishes from the memory of his alter ego.

Finally, in SUPERMAN #325-326, Tanner decides that it is fruitless
trying to create a new superhero to compete with Superman. So instead, he
tries to 'steal' Superman from WGBS. Silverstone devises a weapon that
hypnotizes Superman so he agrees to reveal his secret identity, live on
UBC. This time, Blackrock is merely an energy construct, used to wield the
weapon to control Superman's mind. Not surprisingly, Superman outsmarts
Tanner and leaves the angry network chief with egg on his face.

I don't know about his appearances after that although I believe
Blackrock could be seen standing in the background in one of those mass
supervillain scenes.

Now that Clark Kent's TV background has been wiped from continuity,
Blackrock doesn't really fit in with the new Superman. A pity, since he
was quite a good device for satirizing the TV industry. The names Tanner
and Silverstone sound a lot like Turner and Silverman and I believe
"Blackrock" is the nickname for the building that houses CBS.

Too bad. If not for John Byrne, we might now be reading about a
hypnotized David Letterman fighting Superman.

a2-tonNew Member

posted March 23, 2002 04:59 PM

Finally had a chance to check in again outpost2. I no longer have the
issue of FLASH, so I can't tell you the number. But I believe it was the
one where Max Mercury explained the concept of the Speed Force and his
attempts to join. Near the end of the issue was a one panel cameo of
"other" speedsters. They included a woman in a greek type tunic, a man in
a domino mask and an animal of some kind; I believe it was a turtle.
I think it took place after Savitor but I'm not sure now.

HellstoneMember

posted March 24, 2002 09:37 AM

Blackrock appeared post-Crisis in the Giffen JLA book.

I think he was also one of the villains who got his weaponry absorbed
by the Flash villain called Replicant.

/ola

outpost2Member

posted March 24, 2002 02:38 PM

The Global Guardians bio is turning out to be a lot longer than I had
anticipated, so I'm going to post some of it now, then go back and
research the individual member's origins.

I've listed all the entries in the checklists in publication order, so
I'll leave it to someone else to figure out where all the flashback tales
fit in. Also, I've listed the members in the approximate order in which
they joined the team.

So, here's part one...

outpost2Member

posted March 24, 2002 02:39 PM

THE CLUB OF HEROES / THE GLOBAL GUARDIANS

Origin: In 1942, the Justice Society brought food to starving patriots in
Nazi-occupied Europe. During the early 1950's, several recipients of the
Justice Society's kindness became some of the first costumed heroes to emerge
outside of the United States. (Note: In the pre-Crisis reality, these foreign
heroes were inspired by Batman, and joined together with Batman and Superman
to form the Club of Heroes.) When the non-Communist European nations signed
the Treaty of Rome on March 25th, 1957, which established the European
Economic Community, they also signed a treaty creating the organization called
the Dome. A key figure in the creation of the Dome was the immortal named
Doctor Mist. The costumed heroes working under the authority of the Dome were
dubbed the Global Guardians.

the Knight & the Squire
Real name (Knight): Percival "Percy" Sheldrake, the Earl of Wordenshire.
Real name (Squire): Cyril Sheldrake.
Base of operations: England, UK.
Status (Knight): Retired or deceased.
Status (Squire): Retired, may be active as the second Knight.
Appearances (Knight): Batman #62, Detective #215, World's Finest #89, Infinity
Inc. #34 (in flashback), Who's Who Update '87 #2 (Dome bio page), Young
All-Stars #22 (in flashback tale, origin), 23, 25-27 (in flashback tales, as
the original Squire).
Appearances (Squire): Batman #62, Detective #215, World's Finest #89, Infinity
Inc. #34 (in flashback), Who's Who Update '87 #2 (Dome bio page), New Teen
Titans v2 #44 (as Cyril, retired), Young All-Stars #23 (in flashback tale, the
infant Cyril is mentioned), JLA #26 (as the new Knight?).
Comments: In Young All-Stars #22, it was revealed that Percy Sheldrake, the
first Knight, was previously called the Squire during WWII, and was the
sidekick of the Shining Knight. Sir Cyril Sheldrake, the new Earl of
Wordenshire, appeared in New Teen Titans v2 #44. JLA #26 suggests that Cyril
in turn became the second Knight, and took as a partner the third Squire.

the Gaucho
Real name: Unrevealed.
Base of operations: Argentina.
Status: Retired or deceased.
Appearances: Detective #215, World's Finest #89, Infinity Inc. #34 (in
flashback), Who's Who Update '87 #2 (Dome bio page).
Comments: Did not become a member of the Dome when it first formed, however he
may have joined at a later time.

the Ranger
Real name: Unrevealed.
Base of operations: Australia.
Status: Retired or deceased.
Appearances: Detective #215.
Comments: Intended as a member of the Dome, accidentally omitted by the
writers.

Phantasmo
Real name: Jean-Marc de Villars.
Base of operations: France.
Status: Unknown.
Appearances: Teen Titans Spotlight #11 (in flashback tale, mentioned only),
Young All-Stars #22 (in flashback tale, origin), 24-27 (in flashback
tales).
Comments: Still living as of Teen Titans Spotlight #11. It is unclear if he
was a member of the Global Guardians or just an independent hero of
France.

the Templar Knight
Real name: Simon Lesur.
Base of operations: France.
Status: Deceased.
Appearances: Teen Titans Spotlight #11 (in flashback tale, mentioned
only).
Comments: The Templar Knight died prior to Teen Titans Spotlight #11. It is
unclear if he was a member of the Global Guardians or just an independent hero
of France.

Icemaiden
Real name: Sigrid Nansen.
Base of operations: Norway.
Status: Active.
Appearances: Super Friends #9, Who's Who '85 #9 (Global Guardians bio page),
Infinity Inc. #32, History Of The DC Universe #2 (in flashback), Infinity Inc.
#34-37, Justice League America #100 (in flashback tale), 102 (in flashback
tale, origin), Starman v2 #38 (mentioned only), Wonder Woman v2 #175.
Appearances as a member of the Justice League are not listed.
Comments: This is the first of two Icemaidens. Sigrid retired from the Global
Guardians some time prior to Justice League International #12. She came out
of retirement in Justice League America #97, and became a member of the League
in Justice League America #98. Icemaiden was forcibly retired from the
Justice League circa JLA #1.

the Tasmanian Devil
Real name: Hugh Dawkins.
Base of operations: Australia.
Status: Presumably active.
Appearances: Super Friends #9, 25, Who's Who '85 #9 (Global Guardians bio
page), Infinity Inc. #32, History Of The DC Universe #2 (in flashback),
Infinity Inc. #34-37, Justice League International #8 (image only), Infinity
Inc. #47, Secret Origins v2 #27 (in flashback), 33 (in flashback tale of Ice's
origin), Justice League Annual #3 (Tasmanian Devil bio page), Justice League
Europe Annual #1 (image only), Who's Who '91 #12 (Sep 91) (Tasmanian Devil bio
page), Justice League International Quarterly #8. Appearances as a member of
the Justice League are not listed.
Comments: The Tasmanian Devil retired from the Global Guardians prior to
Justice League America #54. He became a member of the Justice League in
Justice League America #54 and quit in #56. He was a member of the Justice
League Reserves in Justice League Europe #47-50, then rejoined the League in
#50. He left the Justice League once again after Justice League International
#68. The Devil returned to the Global Guardians some time prior to Justice
League International Quarterly #8.

Ice Maiden / Icemaiden
Real name: Tora Olafsdotter.
Base of operations: Norway.
Status: Deceased.
Appearances: Justice League International #12, Who's Who Update '88 #2
(Icemaiden bio page), Secret Origins v2 #33 (in flashback tale of Ice's
origin), Who's Who '90 #3 (Ice bio page), Justice League America #102 (in
flashback tale, joins Guardians). Appearances as a member of the Justice
League are not listed.
Comments: This is the second of two Icemaidens. Ice Maiden retired from the
Global Guardians in Justice League International #12. She became a member of
the Justice League in Justice League International #14, and changed her name
to Ice in Justice League International #19. Ice was killed by Overmaster in
Justice League Task Force #14.

a2-ton,
I flipped through a number of issues of THE FLASH looking for
that turtle-speedster you mentioned (who is likely either the Terrific
Whatzit or Fastback) and turned up empty. I can tell you that it wasn't
the Max Mercury issue that you thought it might be (#97). Perhaps you are
thinking of the "Chain Lightning" arc? I'll keep an eye out for what you
described.

Red-haired, red-suited Wildfire was really Carol V. Martin, adopted by
a wealthy society family. She had fire-related powers, and was possibly a
fire elemental (!).
She was originally drawn by Jim (Batman, Supergirl) Mooney and patterned after
his wife. She would have been a member of the All-Star Squadron but for the
fact that DC editors didn't want her confused with the Wildfire from the LSH.
Hence Firebrand II.
She was briefly glimpsed in GOLDEN AGE #4.

USA, The Spirit of Old Glory:

Real Name: Unknown, if any.
First Appearance: Smash Comics #42 (Mar 1941).
Final Appearance: Smash Comics #48 (Sep 1941).
USA was a flying, patrotic goddess figure who predated Wonder Woman in
FEATURE COMICS by about six months. Her "cape" was a magic flag, which
droooped in times of danger (!). She also carried the torch of freedom ("As
long as the torch of freedom lights the way, our might on land and sea might
not perish")
She hasn't been seen since the Golden Age.

Koppy McFadMember

posted March 30, 2002 04:36 AM

While we are talking about obscure characters, can I ask about...

The SNIPER?

A Quality comics hero, I heard that he worked behind the German lines
during World War II. When the European war was winding down, he switched
over to the Pacific.

I don't know a thing about his abilities, background, weapons or
costume but with a name like the Sniper, he really sounds like the kind of
gritty, violent hero who is all the rage nowadays.

Did he crawl around the ruins of bombed out cities, shooting Nazis like
in "Enemy at the Gates"? How did he escape capture? Did they really show
him killing people in each adventure? How long did this character last
after WWII?

Amazingly he is a Golden Age character, created at a time when snipers
were considered to be rather unsavoury characters (and still are considered
that way in some circles.)

If he is as tough as he sounds, he could be ripe for a revival. Imagine
him in Iraq or Afghanistan....

Superb OyMember

posted March 30, 2002 08:35 PM

Sorry, guys; I don't think that series that featured obscure characters
should really be on this list. Or villains for that matter. I think
one-shot heroes seem most appropriate, but that's just me. Now then...

* Xeen Arrow- The giant inter-dimensional version of Green Arrow who
came to GA's attention when giant arrows created havoc on Earth.
* Miss Arrowette- A young girl who was inspired by the Lee Elias Green Arrow.
Her weaponry included a hairpin arrow and a hairnet arrow.
* Superman's 43 descendants- the 43rd was an active hero who recounts some of
his ancestors mistakes in flashbacks which led to their secret identities
being discovered. The novelty with this hero was his weakness wasn't
kryptonite but polluted water.
* Alpha- The ultra-human from DETECTIVE COMICS 1955. He was artificially
created to be more powerful than an ordinary human and ended his own life when
he saw he had become a menace.
* Yango- From SUPERBOY. The first (?) animal sent as a test from Krypton who
came to Earth. He was allowed by Superboy to remain in Africa as king of the
gorillas.
* Siren of the Sisterhood- A group of powered female rebels who functioned in
a sub-atomic world that was noticed when a berzerk Atom crashed into their
world in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA.
* Phoenix of Steel- Supermen of Earth 1 and Earth 2 merged physically to
challenge an extra-dimensional bad guy who was more powerful than the two
combined.
* Fauna- The daughter of King Volt and Lady Quark, she was killed in the
anti-matter wave in CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.
* Writer- Character (the writer personified?) who appeared in the SUICIDE
SQUAD for one issue, one mission in the War of the Gods in which he was
killed because of writer's block!
* Kathy the Kooky Genius- Little girl who was a super-genius owing to an
alien probe from Superboy.

Koppy McFadMember

posted March 30, 2002 10:28 PM

Since there is all this renewed interest in archers following the revival
of Green Arrow, here is one of the first bow-wielders to appear in comics
(albeit, a villain.)

THE ARCHER

He first appeared in a 1941 Superman story. Basically, he dressed in a
skintight costume with a feather on the hood. He would send threatening
letters to rich men, demanding they pay up or he would kill them.

Powers and abilities: he was a skilled archer and a good
stalker/hunter. But he fired only normal arrows, not trick arrows.

Obviously such an antagonist should not have posed much of a challenge
to the man of steel. Except that Superman was hampered by various
obstacles such as:

-- Lois Lane at her shrewish worst, who sent Clark Kent on a wild goose
chase so she could scoop him.

-- A nutbar who showed up in a costume, insisting he was the real
Archer.

-- The police, who at the time, still considered Superman a dangerous
vigilante and tried to arrest him. (He evaded them rather than hurt cops.)

-- The Archer's potential victims who did not even recognize Superman
as a hero at the time.

This story is noteworthy because it contained the first appearance of a
red-haired office boy called Jimmy who eventually became Jimmy Olsen, cub
reporter. The office boy asks Perry White if he can cover the case in the
absence of Clark and Lois and Perry answers, "you might do a better job
than Clark at that." (This Jimmy still did not have freckles, a bowtie, a
plaid shirt or a signal watch but the potential was there.)

Eventually Jimmy sneaks into Lois's car, saves her hide and helps in
the capture of the Archer, getting his first byline.

And the Archer? He is unmasked as "Quigley, the big game hunter." He
confesses that he thought hunting humans would be more profitable than
animals. Maybe he was looking for a more exciting sport.

He was never seen again. But if someone ever has a mass gathering of
good and evil archers in the pages of Green Arrow, this guy is still
available.

XanadudeMember

posted March 31, 2002 06:43 PM

Actually, the Archer DID return, SUPERMAN FAMILY's "Mr. and Mrs. Superman"
strip. He was out for revenge (of course) and the whole gang from the
first story (Clark, Lois, and Jimmy) took place in capturing him.

ShadZNew Member

posted April 01, 2002 10:41 PM

Originally posted by Superb Oy:

* Miss Arrowette- A young girl who was inspired by the Lee Elias
Green Arrow. Her weaponry included a hairpin arrow and a hairnet
arrow.

She appears occassionally in YOUNG JUSTICE, because her daughter
(Arrowette) was a member of Young Justice for a while...

* Writer- Character (the writer personified?) who appeared in the
SUICIDE SQUAD for one issue, one mission in in the War of the Gods in
which he was killed because of writer's block! .

This character was poking fun at writer Grant Morrison, who had
recently injected himself into ANIMAL MAN as a character.

outpost2Member

posted April 01, 2002 10:41 PM

Originally posted by Superb Oy:

Sorry, guys; I don't think that series that featured obscure
characters should really be on this list.

Miss Arrowette, Xeen Arrow, Yango, and the Superman Dynasty have
already been covered. The Superman you refer to is Superman XIX.

The Siren Sisterhood is on the list as part of "heroes of the
Microcosmos"

The daughter of Lord Volt and Lady Quark was Princess Fern.

Kathy Warren appeared in SUPERBOY v1 #176 and #191.

The story of the Phoenix of Steel appeared in SUPERMAN FAMILY #187.

The Writer appeared in SUICIDE SQUAD #58.

Alpha the Experimental Man appeared in DETECTIVE COMICS #307. Note:
Another character of the same name appeared in an issue of Kirby's JIMMY
OLSEN, and was later revamped in a post-Crisis tale in one of the four
Superman titles. Unfortunately, I don't recall the issue numbers of
either.

The Crusaders were one of the most popular groups of super-heroes in
comic books. And they were popular on at least two Earths (Earth-One and
Earth-X).

The Crusaders were:

The Americommando (not related to Tex Thomson of the All-Star
Squadron)

Rusty, the Americommando's partner

Barracuda

Fireball

Sparky, Fireball's partner

(Naturally, this team was obviously based on Marvel Comics' Invaders -
Captain America and Bucky, The Sub-Mariner, the Human Torch and Toro)

The Crusaders appeared for real on Earth-One, offering their services to
New York City District Attorney David Pearson to help capture the Freedom
Fighters, who were at that time fugitives because they were believed to have
been working with the villainous Silver Ghost. Pearson gave the Crusaders the
authority to pursue Uncle Sam and his group after a report that they had
caused a blackout in upstate New York.

Uncle Sam, The Ray, Doll Man, Black Condor, Phantom Lady, and the Human
Bomb were in upstate New York, at Niagara Falls, in fact. The Ray had been
forced to use his powers to stop the Falls temporarily, which naturally
affected the hydroelectric plants that used them to generate power for a large
part of the the eastern United States. Jokingly, the Human Bomb suggested the
Ray light up Buffalo himself, and the others thought that it was actually a
good idea, and would hopefully convince people that they never willingly did
any damage anywhere (even back in New York City where they were wanted by the
authorities).

The Ray lit up the sky over Buffalo, much to the puzzlement of the
citizenry. As he did, he was attacked by Fireball and Sparky, who began
tossing flames at him and tried to capture him in a cage of fire. The Ray
retreated and the fiery duo followed him back to the others at Niagara Falls,
where a huge flaming "C" in the sky summoned the rest of the Crusaders. The
Americommando parachuted in and threw his triangular shield at Uncle Sam,
cutting the hero's star-spangled top hat in half. The pair then began to duke
it out.

Barracuda tried to capture Phantom Lady, but she went intangible, allowing
the Human Bomb to push their blue-skinned adversary over the railing and into
the water. The fact that being underwater increased Barracuda's powers ten-
fold was not lost on The Human Bomb, who's explosive punch made sure his finny
friend did not stay in the water very long.

Doll Man was momentarily distracted by the appearance of reporter Martha
Roberts (the Earth-One equivalent of his own deceased girlfriend) so that
Rusty was able to grab ahold of the tiny hero. Unfortunately, Rusty hadn't
counted on Doll Man weighing the same 175 pounds that he did when he was full-
sized, and Doll Man quickly overcame the young man.

Black Condor and the Ray went after Fireball and Sparky. Using his cape to
protect his hands, the Black Condor stunned Sparky with a punch, while the Ray
absorbed the flames of Fireball, extinguishing his flames and causing him to
fall. Sparky recovered and caught Fireball, but he was too heavy and was
dragged down with him. As they fell, Fireball's body struck Martha and pushed
her over the railing. Doll Man attempted to pull her up, but Rusty swatted him
away.

Martha was saved by the Human Bomb, who was climbing up from the lake
below. Phantom Lady blinded Rusty with her blackout beam, but The
Americommando, in the midst of his fight with Uncle Sam, saw her and kicked
his shield which blindsided her just as the Human Bomb made it back to the
battleground. Barracuda chose that moment to make a reappearance, and ripped
the Human Bomb's helmet off. Barracuda hit him, causing a huge explosion that
knocked out everyone but the Americommando and Uncle Sam, who was distracted
by the blast and knocked out by the other patriotic hero. Meanwhile, only
Martha was conscious to see the Americommando pull off his mask to reveal
himself to be Raphael Van Zandt, also known as the Freedom Fighter's
archenemy, The Silver Ghost.

Martha woke up Barracuda and tried to tell him about the Americommando's
dual identity, but was interrupted by the criminal, who struck her, much to
the dismay of the sea-spawned hero. The Americommando knocked Barracuda out
after a brief battle, and sent the rest of the Crusaders to track down the
Freedom Fighters (who he said had escaped), while he took Martha to D.A.
Pearson in New York City. He had actually taken their unconscious bodies to
the power plant and wired them all to the power generator, which would soon
come back online and electrocute them all.

Luckily, the first person in the "human circuit" was The Ray, who woke up
and was able to contain the electricity long enough to wake up Uncle Sam, who
unplugged the generator. The Freedom Fighters then took off in pursuit of the
Crusaders to prove their innocence. The Americommando was enraged to find the
Earth-X'ers to have escaped, and proceeded to kidnap Martha and head back to
Manhattan.

The heroes met up with the comic book team soon after, and The Ray used the
remains of the current he had absorbed to shock them all out of the sky.
After a brief battle, Uncle Sam sent Doll Man and the Ray after the
Americommando, and asked the Crusaders how they became the comic book heroes
of World War Two. The group revealed that the Americommando had approached a
group of young comic book collectors at a convention (Marvin, Lennie, Arch,
and Roy) and had offered to recreate them as his former teammates, using a
special device to transform them into their super-powered identities.

Meanwhile, the others had caught up to the Americommando and Martha. The
villain dropped Martha, but the Ray was able to save her. He left Doll Man
with Martha and headed off after the Americommando. The Ray again caught up
with him, and the sky battle between them burned off the Americommando's mask,
revealing him to indeed be the Silver Ghost. The fight also attracted the
attention of some state trooper helicopters, which swooped in to arrest both
of them. The Ray inadvertantly hit one of the copters with a light blast,
prompting them to open fire. The Ray was wounded and fell to Earth. The
Silver Ghost followed to gloat and left him to die. The Ray was soon after
moved and patched up by a hidden figure (who would later be revealed as Rod
Reilly, the original Firebrand). The Silver Ghost would next turn up in an
adventure that was published (but not widely distributed) in CANCELLED COMIC
CAVALCADE.

Appearances: Freedom Fighters #7-10

The VigilanteMember

posted April 03, 2002 12:18 PM

THE RENEGADES

Chief Crazy Horse, Thunder Cloud, Rain-In-The Face, and Tall Tree were
originally a group of young Native Americans who were solicitiing donations
for a school (apparently back on a reservation) in Dallas, Texas. It was
actually a scam, and one that was not working very well for them, as they only
got $1.65 that morning. That prompted Crazy Horse to have them call upon
their ancestors using an ancient "Indian" chant. Suprisingly, this time, the
ancestors appear to have listened, as a storm suddenly brewed above them and
each man was struck by a bolt of "super-charged lightning".

Each man somehow knew he had suddenly been given power: Crazy Horse had
gained the speed of the swiftest stallion, Tall Tree could now grow to massive
sizes, Rain-In-The-Face had complete mastery over water, and Thunder Cloud had
the powers of a storm (including lightning bolts coming out of his eyes). The
first thing the quartet did was use their powers to break into and rob a
nearby bank. Unfortunately for them, Uncle Sam, the Human Bomb, and Phantom
Lady of the Freedom Fighters were in the area. After a brief battle, the
four-to-three advantage was the only thing that kept really the four men from
being captured. The Freedom Fighters themselves were almost arrested, with
only the word of the bank manager allowing them to pursue their foes.

Soon after, the three heroes caught up with the four villains as they tried
to rob yet another bank. A more concerted effort at teamwork made short work
of "the Renegades" (they were only referred as such on the cover of FREEDOM
FIGHTERS #11 and never given any group name in the story), and they were taken
into custody.

Appearances: Freedom Fighters #11

HellstoneMember

posted April 04, 2002 03:39 AM

Vigilante - even though it's not DC - could you also tell the story of the
"Freedom Fighters" parody in the INVADERS book? (who appeared at Marvel during
the same time that the Crusaders appeared at DC)

/ola

The VigilanteMember

posted April 04, 2002 06:37 AM

Hellstone, I think I have some info on them...let me check the back issues
and see what I can come up with.

Got a few more for later, as I just completed my FREEDOM FIGHTERS
collection yesterday (after waiting nearly 30 years to find a couple of
issues I missed)...though you could probably tell that by the last few
entries.

--Rich

The VigilanteMember

posted April 04, 2002 07:17 AM

SKRAGG THE SUPER SNIPER

Arthur T. Sommar ("Ted" to his friends) had a wife, three kids, went to
church in Larchmont, sat on the Board of Directors of four corporations
and was always kind to children, the cleaning lady and small dogs. And was
a homicidal maniac. He suddenly went off the edge and killed his wife
Midge with his briefcase, and then just started walking, ending up in
Manhattan, in the midst of a battle between the Freedom Fighters (who were
invisible due to the effects of a device created by Doll Man that utilized
the powers of the Ray and Phantom Lady) since they were on the lam from
the authorities) and a gang of masked bank robbers on roller skates using
sports equipment.

This scene was being observed by Kylor and Nimak, two "Boy Scouts" from
the anti-matter universe of Qward. Wanting to help the "noble thieves,"
Nimak decided to give them a "straser" or strafing laser unit. An
unearthly beam of energy shot down and struck Sommar, which began to melt
and mutate him. His briefcase became a flying laser platform, and his skin
turned green, which his hands disappeared, being replaced by laser
barrels. He immediately fly upwards into the air and fired upon the
heroes, knocking them all down with such force that Uncle Sam though the
Human Bomb had done it.

Uncle Sam, The Human Bomb, and the Black Condor headed out to the source
of the blast. They found the newly-created Skragg taking target practice,
blasting the Rockefeller Center from 25 blocks away, and quickly
discovered that he was able to see them as well. A brief battle ensued and
Skragg was defeated and taken back to the Freedom Fighters' hideout.
Skragg had returned to his normal personalitiy and was shocked to find he
had no hands. Uncle Sam began reading him his rights, and he asked for his
obligatory telephone call.

Unfortunately, the annoying voice of the telephone operator sent Skragg
back into his homicidal mode, and in his new Skragg personality. He
summoned his laser platform and flew off to the World Trade Center. Skragg
attacked the Human Bomb with a new mode of attack, using a vibrating ray
that stopped his heart (but he was able to counteract it with his own
explosive energy). The Ray and Doll Man temporarily blinded Skragg while
the Human Bomb touched the laser platform. The concussion sent Skragg off
the side of the Tower and, not having any hands, was unable to grab onto
anything. The Ray attempted to grab him, but his hand became immaterial
for a moment, a side effect of the invisibility device.

They later discovered that the buildings that Skragg had attacked or
destroyed all contained one of the corporations that Ted Sommar was a
director of the board on. Uncle Sam figured that they hadn't seen the last
of Skragg (though why, I don't know, since they had just seen him plunge
to his death).

Appearances: Freedom Fighters #3

The VigilanteMember

posted April 04, 2002 07:44 AM

I don't have the original issues anymore, but this is what I remember
about the Marvel Crusaders:

THE CRUSADERS (MARVEL)

Marvel Comics' Crusaders were a group of super-heroes based in Great
Britain. While not having the raw power of the American group The
Invaders, they still were a force to be reckoned with. The team included:

The Spirit of '76 - Patriotic hero in a tricorn hat and domino mask
(looking very similar in appearance to The Fighting Yank). William
Nasland had a cape that was somewhat bullet-proof and no metahuman
powers. After the war, the Spirit of '76 was one of three men (along
with Jeff Mace and the artificial being Adam II) who wore the costume of
Captain America while the real Super-Soldier was lost (imprisoned in a
block of ice).

Ghost Girl - wore a rather revealing outfit and had the ability to
create illusory doubles of herself that were very lifelike in
appearance.

Dyna-Mite - was able to shrink down to about 12 centimeters tall,
but retained his full-size strength. Dyna-Mite later took on the guise
of the Mighty Destroyer.

Thunder Fist - was very strong and had the ability to throw
explosive punches.

Cap'n Wings - was able to fly and had a pair of golden wings on his
back.

On the Crusaders: did anyone ever explain how these two identically-
themed super-teams came about, almost simultaneously? Was there any
collusion between the writers of INVADERS and FREEDOM FIGHTERS?

More importantly, the alter-egoes of the DC Crusaders were suppose to
be based on actual comic writers. Are we suppose to believe that Roy
Thomas, Archie Goodwin, Marv Wolfman, and Len Wein are depicted in that
issue? It was a pretty unflattering depiction.

I can imagine Roy Thomas risking his life to become (a facsimilie of)
the Sub-Mariner, but I thought Archie Goodwin would have more sense.

Now on to....

THE SIREN SISTERHOOD (or the Heroes of the Microcosmos,
take your pick.)

They appeared in a three-part JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA story, issues
#213-216 circa 1983 that put the JLA in a sword-and-sorcery setting. Gerry
Conway was the writer, Don Heck, the artist. The Sisterhood were not so
much a super-group as a team of resistance fighters and only a small
handful were ever identified.

The story starts with the Atom, Ray Palmer suffering a nervous
breakdown because of some professional reverses. Jean, his wife, goes to
his old friend Hawkman for help but Ray is too far gone. Cackling like a
madman, he uses some sort of machine to send himself into some sub-atomic
world. A group of less powerful JLA members (Batman, Black Canary, Green
Arrow, Red Tornado and Hawkman) shrink themselves and go after him. But in
the transition, they suffer some form of amnesia. They land in some
medieval world, remembering that they have some common objective but not
sure what it is.

They soon encounter a hooded woman who introduces herself as "the
Wanderer" and who fills them in on the history of the world. The planet is
ruled by the tyranny of Goltha, a baddie who usurped the throne and killed
the rightful ruler. With an army of ogre-like creatures and his daughter,
the Black Princess, Kass'andre, Goltha crushes all opposition and keeps
the JLA on the run. It is later revealed that decades earlier, Goltha
managed to seize power by enslaving a powerful giant that fell from the
sky. Three guesses who the giant was. (It is later explained that there is
some sort of time anomly between the sub-atomic world and the normal
universe.)

Eventually, after falling into the hands of Kass'andre, both the JLA
and the Wanderer are rescued by members of a female monastic/guerrilla
group calling itself the Siren Sisterhood. The Wanderer reveals she is
Krystal Kaa, the true heir to the throne and both the JLA (who slowly
regain their memories) and the Sisterhood agree to help her fight Goltha
and free the enslaved Atom.

However discord soon breaks out in the two camps. The ambitious
Kass'andre decides not to wait to inherit the throne and begins plotting
against her father. The JLA and Krystal Kaa disagree on how to handle the
Atom. The Leaguers want to free him but Krystal Kaa believes he can be
sacrificed in the fight to free her kingdom. All sides come together in
one big battle in the palace courtyard. Kass'andre kills her father and
declares herself the new ruler. The Atom is turned loose and the JLA and
the Sisterhood fight over how to handle him. But before things deteriorate
further, Green Arrow calls out Ray Palmer's name, snapping the Atom from
his trance. Kass'andre tries to kill Krystal Kaa with a ray blast from a
gem she has implanted in one of her eyes but it is reflected back and
kills the Black Princess instead.

Krystal Kaa regains the throne, the League and the Sisterhood shake
hands just before the JLA returns to the normal world for a tearful
reunion between Ray and Jean.

The main members of the Sisterhood are:

Krystal Kaa: platinum-haired princess with an attitude. She had a magic
staff with a power gem at the end that could be used for energy bursts.
She also had a glove with a gem that emitted similar energy bursts. These
weapons were passed down from her royal ancestors.

Sister Light: robed woman who could generate blinding light.

Twigg: plant-woman who could "stretch" her arms and legs. Had a measure
of super-strength.

Mother Moon: a matronly woman with healing powers.

Mule: the sole male member of the sisterhood. He was a huge, bestial
creature, covered with blue fur. He had great strength and savagery but
was like a puppy to Sister Light.

No origin was given for most of the Sisterhood although it is implied
that they were freaks of nature. (Oooooh! Mutants!) There were assorted
robed women and armoured female fighters in the Sisterhood as well but the
reader learns little about them.

The whole story was rather confusing and I got the impression that it
was not well-thought out and that certain elements of the story were
abruptly changed before publication. At one point in the story, Sister
Light tells a group of soldiers, "you think I am helpless because I am
unmarried?" WTF?!

The League look out of place in the story and the
threats never seem very menacing. And the Sisterhood themselves are pretty
forgettable despite Conway's attempts to make them strong, sympathetic
characters. Even Don Heck's skill in drawing beautiful women seems to have
waned in these stories as none of the Sisterhood look very striking. If
anything, the story reminds one of the tepid sword and sorcery cartoons of
Hanna-Barbara ('Galtar and the Golden Lance' anyone?) in the 1970s.

The whole story arc was badly timed. Just as it finished, the
AMETHYST mini-series came out, also dealing with a princess from another
world, trying to regain her throne using gem magic. And then there was the
Atom who is shown being reunited with his loving wife in the JLA and who
next pops up becoming estranged from his wife and heading out to his own
sword and sorcery miniseries in "Sword of the Atom."

As far as I know, the Siren Sisterhood never appeared again. I can't
say anyone missed them.

Koppy McFadMember

posted April 06, 2002 02:42 AM

And while we are on the Gerry Conway JLA...

here are...

The ANI-MEN of Repli-Tech.

They appeared in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, issues #221-223, also around
1983, in a story arc entitled "Beasts". It was billed as "the most
horrifying adventure" of the Justice League. It certainly was one of the
goriest.

Our story begins when a bio-technology firm called Repli-Tech finds out
that it has over-extended itself and now faces bankruptcy and possible
criminal charges for financial misdeeds. But the company chairman, a macho
type called Rex Rogan, tells his board members they have an easier way
out. He says they can use their technology on themselves to be transformed
into animal-like creatures with special powers. The board, in blind
obedience to Rogan agrees and the company's resident scientist, a Dr.
Lovecraft, soon converts the board members and other key employees into
"Ani-men".

Insert Enron joke here.

Now armed with animal powers and aided by company guards using
high-tech weaponry, the Repli-Tech officials resort to robbery and other
crimes to raise their operating capital. They become so successful, they
even set up an illegal arena where humans are forced to fight to the death
against ani-men for the enjoyment of the decadent rich. (Notice how in
comics and B-movies, the rich and powerful are always going to these
illegal death matches to amuse themselves. Don't they get cable?)

Individual JLA members soon encounter the Ani-men engaged in various
crimes but fail to stop them. It is only when Firestorm comes across a
panther woman called "Reena" that the team gets a breakthrough. Reena used
to be "Irena," the executive assistant and lover of Rex Rogan. But
sickened by the violence in the arena, she turned against Repli-Tech. She
eventually helps provide the JLA with the information needed to track down
the Ani-men.

There are conflicting emotions involved. Reena is still deeply in love
with Rogan and Rogan, now transformed into a lion-man and calling himself
Maximus Rex, still has strong feelings for her. Firestorm is protective of
Reena and for awhile, it looks like a budding romance may be in the wings
for flamehead. But the other Leaguers are reluctant to trust Reena,
particularly Hawkgirl who is angry about a serious wound that Hawkman
suffered, fighting the Ani-men.

Maximus has his Ani-men take Hawkgirl, Hawkman and Wonder Woman
hostage, demanding they be traded for Reena. But with Reena's help, the
League infiltrates Repli-Tech and turn the tables on the bad guys. During
the mission, it becomes clear that Reena and the other Ani-men are
becoming more savage and bestial-- physically. In the final clash, Reena
goes after Maximus, their two devolving bodies crashing through the arena.
After subduing the other Ani-men, the League is shocked to see them all
turn completely into animals. They try to track down Reena and Maximus but
on a beach, they only find their footprints, turning into paw prints
before finally disappearing. Poor Firestorm is left standing in shocked
silence.

The Ani-men were:

Maximus Rex: the leader. A vicious lion-man with nifty-looking pieces
of body armour on his face and arms. He had bestial strength, agility and
sharp claws and fangs that he could use to rip through a crowd of
sword-wielding humans.

Reena: his ex-lover. Irena was a slinky black panther with feline
agility and ferocity.

Gargantus: a sperm whale-man with great strength and aquatic abilities.

Horn: a tough rhino man.

Rowl: a company guard-turned wolf-man who went against Maximus and
helped Reena escape. As punishment, Maximus faces him in the arena and
rips his head off.

There was also an unnamed snake-man, assorted scorpion men and bird
men and various human thugs.

It was certainly a brutal story with the Flash being gored by Horn,
Hawkman getting stung by a scorpion-man and Elongated Man getting caught
in a laundry's steam press while birds peck at his face.

The League seemed to be having one of their off days in this adventure.
Superman and Wonder Woman get knocked out by the whale-man (and this is
the pre-Crisis, planet-moving Superman!) and the other members are held at
bay by these creatures who normally wouldn't last ten seconds against
Flash or Wonder Woman. Gerry Conway, the writer, keeps things moving
briskly so you don't immediately notice the inconsistensies and Chuck
Patton's clean, sleek art is pleasing to the eye, making it easier to
enjoy the story despite the large cast and rapid turn of events.

You just get the impression that the League was "dumbed down" to make
the Ani-men a credible threat and that all the bloodshed is a little
gratuitious.

We never find out what happened to Rex and Reena so they could actually
be lying around in a zoo somewhere. Amazingly, Dr. Lovecraft, the evil
scientist who made the creation of the Ani-men possible, also escapes from
the League so he could conceivably whip up another batch of Ani-men, if
any comic writer feels the need for these characters.

XanadudeMember

posted April 07, 2002 06:24 PM

How many appearances did the second Toyman make (the one used in the Super
Friends cartoon)? And was his real name ever revealed?

Steve ChungMember

posted April 08, 2002 02:17 AM

Bob Rozakis was writing FREEDOM FIGHTERS and Roy Thomas was writing THE
INVADERS, and both decided together that each would introduce a super-hero
team called The Crusaders, and go from there.

There appears to be a computer game out now called The Crusaders, with
some Kirbyesque art on the box.

dataloreMember

posted April 08, 2002 08:24 AM

The second Toyman was Jack Nimball...

...he appeared in a total of four DC comics (NOT related to the Super
Friends...)

If memory serves, he ended up in the Super Friends because of some
odd Bat-character ban (which DIDN'T include the Riddler or Scarecrow...
basically it was the Batman characters used in the competition's Batman
animated series which was running concurrently...)

Morgan the RaiderMember

posted April 08, 2002 08:41 AM

Mikola Rostov from the great WARLORD series, written by Mike Grell!

This character only appeared about 6 times in the 133 issue run, and
yet was one of 4 characters to be immortalized in plastic by Remco in the
early 80's.

Strangely enough in the Warlord fan fiction that Josiah Power and I
write for DCA, we used Mikola as one the main bad guys.

A quick rundown:

Mikola was a Russian professor who was born half man and half werewolf. He
escaped to the world of Skartaris, in which the Warlord lived, because it was
a world of eternal sunlight. There he hoped to be free of his lycanthropy.

Anyone else remember Mikola?

XanadudeMember

posted April 10, 2002 12:32 PM

OK y'all, gonna add two more to the list:

Dr. Janet Kliburn of S.T.A.R. - she was a major major supportng character
in the Superman titles until she was Byrned out of existance - has she been
permanently replaced by Dr. Kitty Faulkner, or has she appeared since?

Jeff Sloane - Zatanna's on-again, off-again manager/romantic interest.
Jeff seems to have disappeared once the Crisis started - I loved him - he
was kinda Alexander Cabot/Shaggyish.

Enda80New Member

posted April 11, 2002 08:39 PM

Incidentally, the O-Sensei actually first appeared in the novel "Dragon's Fists" by
Jim Dennis (Denny O'Neil and Jim Berry) that was published in 1974, which served as the
basis for the first few issues of the RICHARD DRAGON, KUNG-FU FIGHTER comic book.

Enda80New Member

posted April 11, 2002 08:41 PM

A note on Lucifer: Pre-Crisis, he appeared in CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #8 and
SHAZAM! #29.

Enda80New Member

posted April 11, 2002 10:58 PM

Incidentally, I was doing an article on the heroes active during the
Golden Age on Earth-One, and somebody mentioned that I should discuss a
character called Microwave Man from ACTION COMICS #487-488 who was
supposed to be Earth-One's first super-villain. Anyone have any info about
him? Such as who did he face in his early career? What did his uniform
look like, and how did he get his abilties?

Koppy McFadMember

posted April 13, 2002 06:18 AM

On Microwave Man.

Without digging through my old comic collection, I can recall that
Microwave Man was a supervillain in the 1920s-30s. (Did people back
then even know what a microwave was?)

He used machines to tap into microwaves that he used to fly,
create force fields, blast objects, etc. He seemed to engage mainly
in bank robberies. He had no opponents as there were no superbeings
around at the time.

Amazingly, his microwave antenna was able to contact a passing
alien space ship and the aliens agreed to let him join them on their
tour of the galaxy. Decades later, Microwave Man returns to Earth and
finds a world awash with superbeings, where Superman is now the
biggest superhero in the world. The elderly Microwave Man still
possesses his microwave powers however and after the aliens grant him
a boon of returning his lost youth, the guy tries to finally pit
himself against someone else with superpowers.

Because there are so many microwave devices in modern times,
Microwave Man was much more powerful than before. He seemingly
defeats Superman, then drops dead, his last wish fulfilled. It is
then revealed that Superman let Microwave Man defeat him so that the
guy could die in peace after proving that he could hold his own
against a real superhero.

That sounds weird but once upon a time, DC superheroes were real
big on letting people die in peace.

Now on to

METALHEAD and HEADHUNTER

These two heady villains appeared in BATMAN #486 and #487
respectively, circa 1992. Both were basically devices intended to
wear Batman down and set the stage for the whole "Knightfall" story
arc.

Metalhead

He was a guy dressed in a costume that covered his entire body
except for his eyes. He had spikes on his face and fists and had a
barbed whip-like device mounted on his head. Amazingly, he could
flail that barbed object around very well, using it to slice people.
Aside from some old kung-fu movie where a baddie used his pig-tail as
a whip, I don't think anyone has ever done this. I certainly question
whether it could be done in real life.

Metalhead wanted to find Black Mask to join his gang. He was a bit
late as Batman had just busted the gang and Black Mask was in hiding.
That didn't stop Metalhead from cutting up a few people in some bars,
trying to track Black Mask.

Meanwhile, Batman, who was still determined to find the missing
Black Mask, was rushing around town with blood trickling out of his
nose, which apparently had been broken earlier. Despite his injuries,
Bats rejects attempts by Alfred and Tim to help him. In a state of
exhaustion, he slugs it out with Metalhead, suffering several wounds
in the process. After knocking off the spikes protecting Metalhead's
face, Bats nails him with a punch in the face and knocks him out.

We never found out who Metalhead is. If he ever appeared again, I
didn't hear about it.

Headhunter

The very next issue, Batman is still in a state of exhaustion and
is again going head to head with a new baddie. This time, Headhunter
was a mohawked, punk rock-looking hit-man with a leather jacket,
bandoliers, knives and sharpened teeth. The gangsters describe him as
a "dead man", meaning he was a psycho who didn't care if he lived or
died. But he was a skilled fighter and marksman and his speciality
was nailing all of his targets with just two shots in the head.

Surprisingly, his target was not Batman. It was Commissioner
Gordon. That didn't stop Batman from rushing out to stop him and Bats
narrowly saves Gordon's life after Headhunter ambushes him.
Headhunter uses his two scoped pistols to shoot Batman's batarangs in
mid-air and later cuts Batman with his knives but in the end, Batman
takes him rather easily and Gordon is saved. Again, I don't know if
this character ever appeared again.

XanadudeMember

posted April 13, 2002 01:15 PM

Another mystery solved! Kinda.

Several of the characters who appeared in the DC Super
Dictionary HAVE made appearance outside of the Dictionary -
specifically Conjura and Ted and Teri Trapper.

During the mid to early seventies the SRA, inconjunction with
Warner Company and DC Comics, put out four oversized magazine sized
reading aids as part of their SRA line of reading programs (those of
us who went to school in the 70s may remember the SRAs- color coded
reading modules. You read a card, answered the questions on the back,
and after you read a certain number of cards in your color you were
able to advance to the next color).

They were called Super A and to my knowledge four of them
were put out. The stories are reprints of DC stories with the
language simplified. (These were aimed at elementary school readers -
starting at 2 to 4 grades).

The interesting thing is that Joe Kubert retouched the art in the
stories to make them more multicultural! For example, in a Superman
story, Lola Barnett, the white, blond haired gossip columnist for
WGBS is replaced by a black woman, and throughout all four books,
various characters are redrawn to reflect more ethnic diversity.